Putting a drink infront of a desk fan?

[sidekickdmr]

So, been wondering this for a while, I have what must be a supercharged desk fan at work, even on it's lowest setting it flips my eyelids inside out,

Anyway, i went to the vending machine and brought a bottle of lilt zero today, it was nice and chilly and quickly formed condensation on the outside. In an attempt to keep it colder for longer I placed it directly infront of my turbo fan!

A couple of minuites later I grab it to drink and it's, at best Luke warm, I swear it would have been cooler just sat on my desk with no fan!

So I guess my question is, would putting a cold drink infront of a desk fan:

A) keep it cool longer

B) push lots of room temp air past it so actually make it decrease temp quicker

C) make no difference at all?

Over to you!

[Efbe]

B


to test it... buy two cans tomorrow, leave one infront of fan, and one well away

[rhinochopig]

You're heating the can to room temp. Your desk fan is acting like a fan assisted oven.

ETA B should be INCREASE temp quicker.

[anonymous-user]

Efbe said:

B

That's my guess too, as it sucks the room temp air through it, before blowing it outwards

[vladcjelli]

Unless you could fire a fine mist of water at the drink.

This way I imagine the evaporation of the liquid off the surface of the can/bottle might keep it cool longer?

[Rollin]

Enhanced evaporation from the can should cool it down....maybe

[0a]

On the other hand are you also cooling the room (a little)?

[85Carrera]

I was hoping this was going to be youtube footage of someone putting a drink in front of a fan ...

[sidekickdmr]

That was easy, I was expecting another plane conveyer belt discussion!

[StottyZr]

Wouldn't the cold can cool the air around it (without fan) thus keep the cool in? So when the fan is turned on its blowing away the cool air and replacing it with more warm air.

If you want to keep it cool, wrap the can up in a blanket. This is the best way

[anonymous-user]

If the air is colder than the the drink, it will cool it

Usually, unless your boss is too tight to put the heating on ever, the office will be warm enough for the fan to cause the drink to warm

[AyBee]

Next time think before you do something Fans don't cool, they circulate

[Frankeh]

doogz said:

In the last office i worked in, we shared it with HVAC and the electrical engineers.

The electrical guys had a bunch of desk fans on top of the big cabinets, and when it was warm, they'd have them all turned on, blowing air at the roof.

I asked one of them one day about it. "Yeah, they're not pointing at anyone, but they're still helping, generally cooling the room down."

Electrical engineer. That thinks running a motorised fan is cooling the room down.

Most koreans believe that running an electric fan at night with the window closed will suffocate you.

[fomb]

All fans do from a cooling point of view is induce wind chill. The temperature of the air being moved doesn't change.

Cans don't get wind chill.

[RizzoTheRat]

Decant your drink in to a porous container (eg unfired ceramic) so the container weeps/sweats slightly, the passing airflow will evaporate the moisture from the surface and cool the drink.

[Frankeh]

doogz said:

Frankeh said:

doogz said:

In the last office i worked in, we shared it with HVAC and the electrical engineers.

The electrical guys had a bunch of desk fans on top of the big cabinets, and when it was warm, they'd have them all turned on, blowing air at the roof.

I asked one of them one day about it. "Yeah, they're not pointing at anyone, but they're still helping, generally cooling the room down."

Electrical engineer. That thinks running a motorised fan is cooling the room down.

Most koreans believe that running an electric fan at night with the window closed will suffocate you.

Why?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death

[mrmr96]

AyBee said:

Next time think before you do something Fans don't cool, they circulate

Exactly.

Fans will help to get objects to room temperature.

Your body will (generally) be above room temperature (unless a CRAZY hot room) so a fan will try to return your skin to room temp - i.e. cooling you down. (because you started above).

A can of cold drink will be below room temperature, so a fan will try to return it to room temp - i.e. warming it up (because the can started below).

[PugwasHDJ80]

well normally you'd be right that the evaporation would bring the temperature down

BUT

in this case what i think yo've done is reversed the process, you've used a wet cold medium (the can) to cool down a dry warm medium (the air)

Using evaporative cooling only really works when both mediums start at roughly the same temperature, and one is much wetter than the other, in which case its very effective.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

doogz said:

Examples for possible justifications of belief in fan death are as follows:

• That an electric fan creates a vortex, which sucks the oxygen from the enclosed and sealed room and creates a partial vacuum inside

• That an electric fan chops up all the air particles in the air leaving none to breathe.

• The fan uses up the oxygen in the room and creates fatal levels of carbon dioxide

I've just read that Wiki page too, it's hilarious and strange in equal measure. In the 21st century especially.

[tank slapper]

fomb said:

All fans do from a cooling point of view is induce wind chill. The temperature of the air being moved doesn't change.

Cans don't get wind chill.

They can do if you make them wet. Wrap it in a wet cloth and evaporation will have a cooling effect.