― jel --, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Brian MacDonald, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Emma, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dr. C, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Another variant is dye-doped crystals which change colour according to their moisture content. If they've gone pink, bake the sachet in the oven until they've gone blue again, and their magickal drying properties will be restored.
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
And just how would you know, M. MacDonald? Took a quick nibble to taste, did ya?;>
― Nichole Graham, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
I kinda hate silica gel.
― jel --, Monday, 21 April 2008 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link
they warned you not to eat it
― Alex in Baltimore, Monday, 21 April 2008 17:15 (sixteen years ago) link
DESSICANT
It sounds so filthy!
― Abbott, Monday, 21 April 2008 17:44 (sixteen years ago) link
hahaha xpost
― banriquit, Monday, 21 April 2008 17:44 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.geekandproud.net/images/ipodshuffle.jpg
― kenan, Monday, 21 April 2008 21:40 (sixteen years ago) link
eating the silica packet is a bad bad idea... ask this guy:
http://www.worldpress.org/images/121104_YushchenkoBeforeAfte.jpg
― kenan, Monday, 21 April 2008 21:50 (sixteen years ago) link
How do you feel about silica jel?
― libcrypt, Monday, 21 April 2008 21:50 (sixteen years ago) link
i aksed this thread title in science class when i was 9 -- teacher didn't know.
― banriquit, Monday, 21 April 2008 21:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Ask for a refund.
― libcrypt, Monday, 21 April 2008 21:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Q: What happens if you eat one of those silica gel packets that come in the pepperoni you ordered online, your Jimmy Choos, or your new leather coat?
A: We’re not sure why you would, but if you’ve eaten one by mistake, you’ll likely be fine. According to Mike Yudizky, a recently retired paramedic and the public health educator at the North Texas Poison Control Center, “It’s nothing more than a type of sand. Despite the big-time warnings, it’s completely nontoxic.” Even if you were to eat a shoebox full of packets, the only result would be “an upset tummy. But the same would happen if you drank too much water.”
The grains of what looks like clear caviar in the tiny packets are a desiccant. That is, they absorb moisture. You find them in food products that will have a longer shelf life if they stay dry. That could include pepperoni, dried nuts and fruits, or vitamins.
So why do the packets include warnings, occasionally including a skull and crossbones? To avoid product liability cases, says Yudizky. The packets are “harmful if swallowed by an infant or pet, as they could choke or aspirate on the silicon gel packet,” explains Michelle Musallam, a certified physician’s assistant in Dallas, Texas.
In some cases, the stuff is coated with a moisture indicator such as cobalt (II) chloride, a toxic substance that may be carcinogenic. But Yudizky says even that wouldn’t be a problem because of the incredibly small amount involved.
― libcrypt, Monday, 21 April 2008 22:00 (sixteen years ago) link
So... can someone eat one and report back?
― S-, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 00:11 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.joblo.com/images_arrownews/SourFace2.JPG
― Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 09:16 (sixteen years ago) link
Do Not Eat AGELESS
― RabiesAngentleman, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 13:05 (sixteen years ago) link
"Famous quotes" now appearing on packets of silica gel in yr nbd:
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/3677/photo6od4.jpg
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 19:49 (sixteen years ago) link
sarcastic silica
― latebloomer, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 19:50 (sixteen years ago) link
made from basilica
― JTS, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 20:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Everything I need to know about silicones, I learned from this excellent album:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/02/365_days_50_gen.html
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 20:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Just poured big packet of silica gel into a cup and then barely covered it with water. It started popping like popcorn!!!! Couple bits got into my hair even.
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:18 (fifteen years ago) link
You must be really bored!
― ENBB, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:21 (fifteen years ago) link
WTG!
― kenan, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:22 (fifteen years ago) link
I like your impromptu science experiment!
― Abbott, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:23 (fifteen years ago) link
I read an interesting article yesterday about eveolution of disposable diapers and the chemical contents that allow them to hold tons of pee (the industry calls it "insults"!). I thought it was pretty interesting.
The old, paper-filled diaper could hold, at most, two hundred and seventy-five millilitres of fluid, or a little more than a cup. Today, a diaper full of superabsorbent polymer can handle as much as five hundred millilitres, almost twice that. The chief characteristic of the Mills diaper was its simplicity: the insult fell directly into the core. But the presence of the polymer has made the diaper far more complex. It takes longer for the polymer than it does paper to fully absorb an insult, for instance. So another component was added, the acquisition layer, between the liner and the core. The acquisition layer acts like blotting paper, holding the insult while the core slowly does its work, and distributing the fluid over its full length.
― Abbott, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:26 (fifteen years ago) link
^^^ Reading that, I almost insulted myself.
― snoball, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:34 (fifteen years ago) link
bahahaha
― Abbott, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:35 (fifteen years ago) link
"Taking the insult" takes on a whole complex of meanings now.
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, I am bored. Whenevs I am in lalaland, it's 95% boredom. Printing out network docs on the 3-foot-wide-paper plotter now.
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Update: 30 min later, the "gel" still hasn't absorbed all the insult, er, water.
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:50 (fifteen years ago) link
^^^ It's a well known fact that insults are acidic. Maybe that affects the absorbency, so try adding some lemon juice to the water?
― snoball, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 17:57 (fifteen years ago) link
An insult that isn't acidic is more of a playful taunt.
― kenan, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 18:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Considering dipping a couple purity balls in the sol'n b/c of lack of lemons.
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 18:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Update: Wet silica gel has a very faint odor of like new book or something.
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 18:19 (fifteen years ago) link
I've done the "sachet of silica gel + drops of water" thing several times now. Never fails to amuse.
― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 19:16 (fifteen years ago) link
And you have to drink tons of water to get there.
― Abbott, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 19:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Whoa what did I do there?
I don't know, but you have my attention.
― kenan, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 19:19 (fifteen years ago) link
I've got a bunch of these in water right now and they aren't doing a damn thing.
Where have I gone wrong? I want some kitchen science here. Either that or I am disproving some above hypothesis and we'll have to duke it out in peer review.
― Abbott, Friday, 23 May 2008 20:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Abbott, you must be even more bored than me.
― Oilyrags, Friday, 23 May 2008 20:13 (fifteen years ago) link
How much water? I poured in too much at first, myself.
― libcrypt, Friday, 23 May 2008 20:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Like a half cup (4 oz) maybe.
― Abbott, Friday, 23 May 2008 20:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh man, Oily, I don't do things because I'm bored. I do things because I'm EXCITABLE. (I wish I did things when bored, like chores; then my house would be clean.)
You just need a TINY bit of water, like literally a tiny tiny tiny drop for a sachet.
― Scik Mouthy, Saturday, 24 May 2008 08:09 (fifteen years ago) link
My guitar controller for Guitar Hero III came with a couple of packets of Silica Gel.
― jel --, Saturday, 24 May 2008 10:07 (fifteen years ago) link
https://waskstudio.com/products/sealed-fate-candy-packets
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 29 September 2020 03:37 (three years ago) link
Eh. So much stuff is shipped in cargo containers across oceans, where the air is notoriously damp (and sometimes those containers are stored right on the deck where waves can break over the rails), that those silica gel packets are cheap insurance that the contents will mostly arrive in good shape.
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Tuesday, 29 September 2020 03:53 (three years ago) link
I like them. As I reside in a humid swamp, internal mold is a real risk to expensive things like camera lenses, so they and other things (my backup HDs) get stored in an airtight containers with silica. Others have been used to prevent internal condensation in things like underwater casings. While I've bought the little packets in bulk, any of them can be restored to perfectly dry condition by boiling off trapped water in an oven. 250 F for 30 minutes will do if you're not dealing with huge amounts.
― Voulez-vous un coup d'etat, ce soir? (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 29 September 2020 07:20 (three years ago) link
http://files.explosm.net/comics/Rob/pepperoni.png
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 29 September 2020 08:15 (three years ago) link
Thats from 2007 and it was the first thing I thought of seeing this thread haha.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 29 September 2020 08:16 (three years ago) link