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Pondering lunches past
Apr. 8th, 2010 06:56 pmToday at work we were talking about how fast heat will transfer up a pipe made of different materials.
It made me remember my days working at the iron foundry back in the 80’s. We didn’t have a microwave, so I’d heat my lunch on the pouring crucibles that were being kept hot by a propane torch. (OK, a 2” wide tube dumping a lot of burning gas at a time might be a bit more then a torch. But, I can’t think of a better word.)
I used to take a can of soup and put it on the edge to heat it up.
There were pros and cons to that.
Pros, it was very fast.
Cons, it could explode if not pre-opened and could burn the soup contents even in the liquid. And, if left too long, the can would melt.
The trick was to get it so your soup was just the right temperature without burning, exploding or melting.
The best way I found to judge was by watching the label burn off. As it burn around the can, the soup was right about the time it got ¾ of the way around.
I’m glad there is a microwave here where I work now…
It made me remember my days working at the iron foundry back in the 80’s. We didn’t have a microwave, so I’d heat my lunch on the pouring crucibles that were being kept hot by a propane torch. (OK, a 2” wide tube dumping a lot of burning gas at a time might be a bit more then a torch. But, I can’t think of a better word.)
I used to take a can of soup and put it on the edge to heat it up.
There were pros and cons to that.
Pros, it was very fast.
Cons, it could explode if not pre-opened and could burn the soup contents even in the liquid. And, if left too long, the can would melt.
The trick was to get it so your soup was just the right temperature without burning, exploding or melting.
The best way I found to judge was by watching the label burn off. As it burn around the can, the soup was right about the time it got ¾ of the way around.
I’m glad there is a microwave here where I work now…
