I just got a kilo bar of silver and put a bit of ice on it to watch it suck up the heat. After being amazed at how quickly the entire bar gets very cold all over even though the ice is only on one end, I realised that you can dry the bar off and if you put it on your forehead it is just like an ice pack only much better because it conducts the heat away very fast and it stays cold a long time without dripping water. It takes about 30 seconds to cool the bar and it lasts for ages. It is also very comfortable to roll on your forehead. Can't wait for an opportunity to use it in a real life headache situation.
I find the 1 kg gold bar or 1 kg platinum bar when used as an ice pack gives better relief for a headache or most life troubles in general. By the way welcome to Silver Stackers
Thanks for the welcome. I just checked the thermal conductivity and I was surprised to find that Platinum is very inefficient at 71.6 (W.m-1.K-1) [whatever that is]. Silver and Gold are 429 and 318 respectively.
Excellent suggestion! I've never had any actual practical use for my silver bars, but this is it! Next time I get a headache, I'm going to crank all the way back on my recliner and put a few ice water-chilled 10oz bars on my forehead.
Hmm, good idea but might stick to the 10oz version, don't want to pop a blood vessel whilst trying to cure a headache!! Oh and welcome!!
Just chucked a PM kilo into the fridge and in 5 minutes, it was pretty damned cold. I reckon little one or two cubed centimeter blocks would make great reusable ice cubes. Might need to keep the one kilo to pay for dental bills when the cubes smack against your teeth.
When me and the misses host house parties, we put large silver bars at the bottom of the Punch Bowls and Water Dispensers along with a good amount of ice. Though we have to hire extra security, it's all part of having chilled beverages and excellent conversation.
Rather hard to see silver as a keeping-cool object like those refrigerator packs, a high thermal conductivity means that it conducts heat as well as cold. In other words: it 'stores' very little heat or cold. Abit like sand in the desert, it's hell hot in the sun, but it's also hell cold at night. The extremes are bigger, and that's because sand doesn't store heat/cold. Unlike water, which has a low thermal conductivity, hence at coasts the temperature differences tend to be smaller.
'High thermal conductivity' means the Silver bar absorbs the cold quickly in the fridge which is good when you want an instant ice-brick. High thermal conductivity also means that the cold bar will absorb the heat of your forehead very quickly/efficiently too. In other words, yes, an excellent instant ice brick for your headache although best to have a second bar in the fridge and rotate. Off on a tangent, I remember a book title 20 yrs ago called '101 uses for a dead cat'. Maybe someone could come up with '101 uses for a silver bar'?
10 oz chilled slabs might be good for dipping into a beer or wine that's gotten a bit warm. Sort of like a reverse mull. Yep, I think I see a business opportunity here, coke spoons. Not those little dinky spoons used for snorting cocaine, but big hefty 5 oz silver spoons for chilling your coca cola.
Put the hard word on the missus, that'll give her a headache and you can apply the kilo bar to her forehead.