You know the scenario? Suddenly you get a message saying “We’ll be there in 20 minutes,” and you look in the fridge and realize you don’t have any drinks in it. Or it’s hot outside and you’d like to have a really cold drink now, not in an hour. At times like these, the wet paper towel trick comes in handy.
The quick-cooling process with a wet paper towel requires no special equipment, just a piece of ordinary paper towels and access to running water. A paper towel should be wet, squeezed slightly to prevent dripping, and tightly wrapped around the bottle or can.
The drink wrapped in a wet paper towel is then placed in freezerAfter approximately fifteen minutes the paper towel is partially or completely frozen, and the drink inside reaches the ideal drinking temperature.
This method is incomparably faster from the classic placing of a drink in refrigerator or freezer without additional wrapping.
The science behind accelerated cooling
The secret to this incredibly effective wet paper towel trick lies in basic laws of thermodynamics and heat transfer. The air in the freezer is a very poor conductor of heat, so it takes a long time to cool a dry bottle. Water, on the other hand, is an excellent conductor of heat.
When the bottle is wrapped in a wet paper towel, the water in the paper creates direct contact with the packaging and begins to transfer heat from the beverage to the cold environment of the freezer extremely quickly.
In addition, there is a phenomenon of rapid evaporation and freezing of a thin layer of water, which further accelerates the decrease in temperature inside the bottle.
Optimal results and safety warnings
The wet paper towel trick works best when bottles and aluminum cans, as glass and metal are good conductors of heat.
At plastic bottles The effect is slightly less pronounced, as the plastic acts as an insulator, but cooling is still faster than with a dry bottle.
Cooling time may vary slightly depending on the initial temperature of the drink and the strength of the freezer, but fifteen minutes usually sufficient for complete refreshment.
If a bottle, especially one with carbonated drink, remains at below freezing temperatures for too long, the liquid inside may freezes, it expands and causes the glass to crack or the can to explode.
The only rule you shouldn't ignore
This trick shouldn't be ruined by one classic mistake: forgetting to put your drink in the freezer. If it's left out too long, it can freeze, expand, and make a mess (or damage the packaging). The best solution? Set an alarm on your phone and forget about stress.
