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Refrigerators To Cool With Sound (Cool!)

Posted by timothy on from the loud-food dept.

T-Kir writes "A very interesting report from the BBC where researchers at Penn State University are developing a prototype fridge that cools using metal plates and sound waves. If successful, this technology would help remove the dependance on gases that contribute to global warming. Talk about Cool!"

14 of 436 comments (clear)

  1. But... by Telastyn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reduce the gases that contribute to global warming, but contribute to noises that drive Fido mad...

    </senseless humour>

    1. Re:But... by istartedi · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm pretty sure that Underwriter's Labs will reject an appliance that melts the user's face off everytime they use it. I've seen their checklist and "[x] make sure face doesn't melt" is on there. So, it will be hard to find any contractor who will install it, or any major department store that carries it.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    2. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Bah! It's people like you that ruin perfectly good sensationalist speculation.

      This is Slashdot, take your "facts" and your "knowledge" to somewhere that cares. ;)

  2. Oh yeah... by WPIDalamar · · Score: 5, Funny

    If my fridge were to emit some cool Barry White, that's be pretty ... well... cool.

    First there was the "Brown note" ... now the "cool note"

    1. Re:Oh yeah... by cybermace5 · · Score: 4, Funny

      My fridge *already* says "Baby, this your appetite speaking" whenever I look at it. Or at least that's what the voice in my stomach tells me.

      --
      ...
  3. Millions of dollars of research down the drain by Gorm+the+DBA · · Score: 5, Funny
    So, after all those Maytag commercials advertising that their product is the quietest ever...now they'll be advertising "The TURBOBLAST 9000!!! Generates 186 decibels of ear-splitting cooling power!!!!!".

    If this is so cool...how come my constantly loud neighbors haven't turned into icicles yet?

  4. who want's a fridge when you can do this? by anonymous+loser · · Score: 4, Funny
    Sounds of 165 dB would cause a person's hair to catch fire from the frictional heating caused by air undergoing such intense compression and expansion.

    You know, that sounds way more fun that cooling some ice cream. Or maybe I've been playing too many videogames.

  5. Re:Cooool by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds of 165 dB would cause a person's hair to catch fire from the frictional heating caused by air undergoing such intense compression and expansion.
    Yeah, but what if I want to keep a human head in my fridge? Won't the hair catch fire and warm up the fava beans?
    --

  6. Re:But they still can solve the *real* problem... by Single+GNU+Theory · · Score: 5, Funny

    No. Global warming is caused by the sun.

    If the sun were to go out, the planet would cool off and die. It would still happen even if we had all the refrigerators on the planet running at 100% duty cycles in an atmosphere composed entirely of "greenhouse" gasses such as carbon dioxide and cow farts.

    BTW, the chlorofluorocarbons you mention are responsible for destroying ozone in the upper atmosphere, which allows more ultraviolet light through. That's a different problem, but related in the sense that now you could have sunburned, farting cows.

    --
    Little Debian: America's #1 Snack Distro!
  7. In other news... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... refrigerator owners in Finland have been court ordered to pay royalties for the sounds generated by the space-age technology inside of their appliances. These royalties multiply depending on how many people are in the kitchen at the time. Hillary Rosen of the RIAA was quoted as saying "First they pirate our music, now they're cooling their food with it? Lots of people everywhere owe us money!"

  8. Oh It Hurts! by NeuroManson · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The research is being sponsored by ice cream makers Ben & Jerry's and Unilever. "

    "Humans feel pain when they hear sounds of 120 decibels, a level typically reached next to the speakers at a rock concert."

    So the purpose of this research is to improve on the ice cream headache? Why?

    --
    Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
  9. Re:There hasn't been a DEPENDENCE on those gases.. by Tsar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now we get to one of my pet peeves. Why doesn't any of the major, or minor for that matter, fridge manufactures make a chest style fridge.

    I don't understand your question. All refrigerators are chest style; they only set them on one end in the store so they'll occupy less space. Oh, wait--you aren't one of those idiots that installed it that way when you got it home, are you? Hahahahaha!!! How stupid can you get? I'll bet you put CD's in your PC's cupholder slot too, don't you?

    What a moron!

  10. Hair Catching on Fire by serutan · · Score: 4, Funny

    At last, a fridge that goes to ELEVEN.

  11. Updated prank call.... by shpedoikal · · Score: 4, Funny
    *ring* *ring*

    HELLO?

    Is your refrigerator running?

    WHAT?!?

    Is your refrigerator running?

    WHAT?!? YOU'LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP!

    Oh nevermind.. *click*