Answer 1:
Soda, like any substance can be cooled by
coming into contact with materials that are colder
than it. In a refrigerator, this might be the cold
air inside, or when you add an ice cube, it would
be the cold ice. The soda will cool down (and the
other material will heat up) until both materials
are at the same temperature. This does not depend
on what is cooling the soda down.
The question of "what makes it cool down faster?"
deals with cooling rate and heat transfer. The
three simple answers are:
1) The temperature of the other material (the
bigger the difference in temp, the faster it will
cool)
2) The surface area of the soda (large contact
surface area leads to faster cooling)
3) The properties of the other material
(solids/liquids cool things down faster than gasses)
Thus the fastest way to cool down a can of soda
would be to put it into a long skinny can (higher
surface area) and drop it into a large bath of
liquid nitrogen (temp = -330 degress). [Of
course this is something we should not do under
any circumstance - this could be very dangerous!!
and would cause the soda to freeze, popping the
can]
But, if you want soda cooled quickly, say in a
cooler when you go to the beach, rather than use
just ice, adding a little water to the ice will
increase the surface area in contact with the can.
Adding salt to the ice water will also decrease
the temperature. Thus, salty ice water is the
fastest reasonable way to cool soda.
Not sure if this answers your question, but
hopefully it helps!
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