One For The Mathematicians

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This is actually a complex problem that is one for a thermodynamicist, or heat transfer specialist to deal with. An accurate answer without complex mathematical modelling would be difficult to achieve.
Variables include
- thickness of snow; how large the cooling snow heat sink actually is; void created as snow melts, will the snow fill the gap or will the air then act as an insulating layer (heat transfer through gases is much worse than heat transfer through liquids by several orders of magnitude;
- thickness of glass
- shape of container
- run off of melted snow; will the snow pool or not if it does the temperature may rise and the driving force will be reduced
- will the beer be moved about occasionally
to name but a few
plus all the usual things like thermal conductivity of glass etc etc.

That said back of fag packet calcs may give a reasonable approximation.

And that comes from someone who has designed large process plant heat exchangers in another life.

But it is, after all, a bit of fun.... isn't it :whistle:


See - I TOLD you it was a physics question! Of course this means as a mere statistician I should have stayed well clear.
 
...and remember Apollo 13 returned from the far side of the moon with the computing power of a Nintendo game machine and some good maths from a female mathematician !That must have made her feel pretty good!

They have their uses. (Mathematicians that is!) :lol: :lol:

Don't forget the constipated mathematician who worked it out with a pencil. :whistle: :whistle:

Back in 1972 I was attempting (unsuccessfully) to operate an offshore gas platform using an IBM 1800 that was the size of a small house; nowadays my phone has a thousand times more computing capacity!

Changed times, but still using the same "Garbage In = Garbage Out" system until AI takes off. :thumb: :thumb:
 
........ one for a thermodynamicist, or heat transfer specialist ........

Ah, the ubiquitous "Specialist" ...

... a person who knows more and more about less and less
until they know everything about nothing.

Personally, I try to be a "Generalist" ...

... a person who knows less and less about more and more
until they know nothing about everything.

:lol: :lol: :lol:​
 
Ah, the ubiquitous "Specialist" ...

... a person who knows more and more about less and less
until they know everything about nothing.

Personally, I try to be a "Generalist" ...

... a person who knows less and less about more and more
until they know nothing about everything.

:lol: :lol: :lol:​

+1 here...! :thumb:
 
Ah, the ubiquitous "Specialist" ...

... a person who knows more and more about less and less
until they know everything about nothing.

Personally, I try to be a "Generalist" ...

... a person who knows less and less about more and more
until they know nothing about everything.

:lol: :lol: :lol:​

Hi!
David Niven: The Moon's a Balloon: Director Mike Curtiz "You lousy bums, you and your stinking language, you think I know f**k nothing, well let me tell you — I know F**K ALL!”
 
That's easy, go outside and grab a bottle. Open it and drink the beer. If it's not cold enough wait half an hour then repeat until either
a) beer is at optimum temperature or
b) you're too sozzled to notice the temperature anyway....
 
They have their uses. (Mathematicians that is!) :lol: :lol:

Don't forget the constipated mathematician who worked it out with a pencil. :whistle: :whistle:

Back in 1972 I was attempting (unsuccessfully) to operate an offshore gas platform using an IBM 1800 that was the size of a small house; nowadays my phone has a thousand times more computing capacity!

Changed times, but still using the same "Garbage In = Garbage Out" system until AI takes off. :thumb: :thumb:

Damn, you beat me to the constipated mathematician joke.
 
Speaking as a failed mathematician, I like the empirical approach.

Put six bottles in the fridge / on the window ledge and drink one every half hour until it seems to be the right degree of coldness.

Then you know how long for next time.
 
Speaking as a failed mathematician, I like the empirical approach.

Put six bottles in the fridge / on the window ledge and drink one every half hour until it seems to be the right degree of coldness.

Then you know how long for next time.

Experimentation is definitely better than calculation in this case
 
Why has no one mentioned evaporative cooling from melted snow on the bottle and wind chill from air rate moving across the bottle! The shape of bottle and it's aerodynamic properties come into play on evaporative cooling. A wet bottle will cool quicker in the snow if half the bottle is exposed to the air, good on a windy day.
 
Well, look at that!

I am very pleased with the response to that little brainteaser, and it has had more replies than any of my posts to date.

It turned out through experimentation that about the first half and half time of a game of rugby between Scotland and France was about right. So 90-100 mins. We also found out that overnight was way too long.

The snow was packed around the bottle, and it was windy. There was melting of the snow closest to the bottle, though, and we did not re-pack it, due to having to put on shoes each time we went outside, which was a pain with little perceived gain.

I did notice that the father-in-law kept a keen eye on proceedings, and was quick to 'test' the results. He's not a reliable experimenter, though, as he has so many 'just to make sure', that his written-up results are largely unintelligible.

Thanks again.

Dog.
 

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