Making Ice Without Electricity

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Making Ice Without Electricity

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday September 12, 2005 @08:02AM from the old-science-becomes-new-again dept.

j-beda writes "Time Magazine is running an article telling us how Dave Williams is trying to make ice for third-world applications using the Hilsch-Ranque vortex-tube effect (first developed in 1930 by G.J. Ranque), where swirling air is split into hot and cold components." The method is horribly inefficient but Williams is hoping it could yield helpful results in areas where electricity is really not an option.

23 of 608 comments (clear)

Hrm. by grub · 2005-09-12 08:03 · Score: 5, Funny

In Winnipeg we just leave water outside for a few minutes.

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Trolling is a art,
1. Re:Hrm. by Surt · 2005-09-12 08:18 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Fantastic, we'll just pack it in dry ice (to keep it cold) and ship it to third world countries. Problem solved!
  
  --
  "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
2. Re:Hrm. by peculiarmethod · 2005-09-12 08:24 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  In San Diego, we just take our beer to the beach and talk to the nearest bikini. Instant freeze.
  
  --
  ** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
3. Re:Hrm. by Tackhead · 2005-09-12 08:48 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  > Yes, but will it make Vanilla Ice...?
  Rollin', in my 5.0 with the top left back so my hair can blow...
  I dunno. Let's find out.
  Rollin'... in my 5.0,
  With my rag top down so my hair can blow,
  The voltage is on standby, costs of icin' too high,
  (Did you stop?) No, I just froze, by
  Freon - pursuin' temp'rature drop,
  Compressor's dead, yo, so I continued to,
  George J. Ranque, Hilsch-Ranque vortex tube!
  
  Peltier's hot, like electrical bikinis,
  And I got no voltage from the Lamborghinis,
  Warmin' - cause I'm out thawin' mine,
  Got my compressor gauge, readin' PSI "9"
  Vaccuum - for the mods on the wall,
  Mods are actin' ill because they had their 8 LOLs
  Hissin' - through the compressor shell,
  I clamped the hose, but it was shot to hell,
  Ozone - burnin' up like real fast,
  Registration link at time-mag suckin' goat ass
  Readin' the Wiki, the 'pedia's packed,
  Thermodynamics 'bout how the fridge is jacked.
  
  Third law on the scene - you know what I mean,
  A million RPM? Efficiency is unseen,
  If it's a solution, this don't solve it
  Pump out the heat while the Hilsch-Ranque revolves it
  (Vanilla) Ice Ice Geeky, too cold...
Could be useful by Mister+sharkbot · 2005-09-12 08:06 · Score: 2, Funny

useful indeed. (10000000 rpm could be acheivd with mules and huge gears?)
Already done! by DogDude · 2005-09-12 08:06 · Score: 4, Funny

I think that we all know that it's already been tried, and baaaad things happened as a result:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091557/

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I don't respond to AC's.
1. Re:Already done! by Monkelectric · 2005-09-12 08:23 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Hmmm ... I was thinking more along these lines: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087451/
  
  --
  Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
In Soviet Russia... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-09-12 08:07 · Score: 3, Funny

The water leaves YOU outside for a few minutes.
Dr. Brown by 3CRanch · 2005-09-12 08:07 · Score: 2, Funny

Didn't Dr. Emmit Brown invent something like this back in 1845 or so? You know, shortly before Marty arrived...
Good one, Dave! by Anonymous Coward · 2005-09-12 08:08 · Score: 1, Funny

Dave Williams is trying to make ice for third-world

Turning the rare drinking water they've got into solid ice, eh?
Why not just make electricity? by mikew03 · 2005-09-12 08:11 · Score: 5, Funny

If you can spin something at 1,000,000 RPM why not spin a copper coil inside a magnetic field and make electricity instead? Quite useful stuff I've heard.
1. Re:Why not just make electricity? by RapmasterT · 2005-09-12 08:19 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  If you can spin something at 1,000,000 RPM why not spin a copper coil inside a magnetic field and make electricity instead? Quite useful stuff I've heard.
  BINGO!!! We have a winner of the "Find the Logic Hole in the Seemingly Reasonable Idea" game!
  There's a reson why electicity is a freakin' universal component of modern societies people. It's EASY to produce, so easy that's it's just about goddamn trivial since there's dozens of different ways to go about it, and NONE of them involve ridiculously ineffcient and complex methods like "ice without electricity" does.
  Hell, why not work on "masturbation without enjoyment" too, that should be just as useful.
2. Re:Why not just make electricity? by brarrr · 2005-09-12 08:58 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I'm sorry but I have to submit that this dude's slashdot account be revoked. A flame that is well reasoned, correct, and sufficiently mocking? That's not only improbable, it's probably a sign of coming apocalypse. What are, you, some kind of super-human? Or are you an engineer? .... avoiding my usual grad student drudgery....
  
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  to email me: take my /. handle and append .net preceded by charter.
Misleading title by Guppy06 · 2005-09-12 08:14 · Score: 2, Funny

Want ice without electricity? Drive the compressor with a small diesel power plant.
In Soviet America... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-09-12 08:30 · Score: 4, Funny

The President leaves you in the water outside for a few days.
Simpler Idea by RealityMogul · 2005-09-12 08:34 · Score: 3, Funny

Create a 10 mile high structure. Send water to top. Bring ice back down.
mmm cold by ConsoleDeamon · 2005-09-12 08:43 · Score: 2, Funny

Solar cells and windgenerators is your friends :)
Simple Method (But Not Recommended) by aquatone282 · 2005-09-12 08:47 · Score: 2, Funny

Forget your wedding anniversary.

Works every time!

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What?
Nothing New! by Comatose51 · 2005-09-12 08:55 · Score: 4, Funny

Making ice without any electricity happens everytime I try to talk to a girl.

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Re:Reinventing the wheel? by value_added · 2005-09-12 09:00 · Score: 5, Funny

The Romans used to make ice in the deserts of Palestine and North Africa. It seems to me they were around before electricity and Frigidaire.

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, public health, and making ice without electricity, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Re:Reinventing the wheel? by chill · 2005-09-12 09:16 · Score: 2, Funny

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, public health, and making ice without electricity, what have the Romans ever done for us?

You forgot public baths, the orgy, gladiators at the coluseum and Roman Numerals! Without all of the above, where would Hollywood be today?

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Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Re:You'll have to pedal really fast... by RapmasterT · 2005-09-12 09:18 · Score: 3, Funny

I prefer the elegant simplicity of two grossly different sized gears.
Re:Reinventing the wheel? by myowntrueself · 2005-09-12 09:32 · Score: 2, Funny

"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, public health, and making ice without electricity, what have the Romans ever done for us?"

They arranged for the disposal of that inconvenient rebel known as 'The Christ'?

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