Tired of time-consuming, drink-diluting ice cubes? How about a pill which, when dropped in water/beer etc, cools it to a refreshing temperature in seconds. Perfect for hot days, picnics etc. It'll work by having two chemicals separated by a thin membrane, which breaks when wet. The chemicals react endothermically, taking heat from the environment (the drink). All the products must be gaseous, insoluble in water and non-toxic. Also useful for high jinks involving public baths.-- Nadir, Mar 08 2001 Drop in some solid carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen (77 Kelvin). Done this before in the lab. Cold!!!!!-- Wes, Mar 08 2001 Funny story, Peter: I *did* bring some home from my undergrad lab one day -- I had to wrap it in a few coatings of paper towels, and then crammed it into my coat pocket. Since it was pressed right up against the outside of my jacket, I had this square of frost that had developed. Warranted some strange looks.
Words of warning: don't try and make your kitchen into an 80's rock concert video -- my housemates and I placed several of these CO2 chunks into a huge pot of boiling water. We were midway up our shins in opaque gas.
Another strange trick is not putting liquid N2 into, say, a Coke, but pouring the Coke into the N2. You'll get some funny shaped Coke-ice chunks.-- Wes, Mar 08 2001 A quick wat to create a cold drink from a hot drink eg hot coffee/ chocolate, depending on the weather, the person, etc. Great in small restaurants, aircraft, etc.-- gz, May 08 2001 Perfect for high heat index days! Brings a whole new meaning to: "Take a chill pill."-- Lucky_Setzer, Jul 25 2001 Well you can already buy those plastic things you put in the fridge that you can put in your drinks to make them cool and not dilute the drink. I however like the idea of a small tablet. I like the idea of so many practical jokes that could be played hehehe!!! If you every find or invent one tell me I want to know.-- Monkeyboy2, Jul 25 2001 Geez, I was hoping for a pill that you take in order to successfully fake a cold so that you can get out of work...-- tminus12, Jul 25 2001 random, halfbakery