What the hell is silica gel?

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.

And just how would you know, M. MacDonald? Took a quick nibble to taste, did ya?;>

I kinda hate silica gel.

they warned you not to eat it

DESSICANT

It sounds so filthy!

hahaha xpost

http://www.geekandproud.net/images/ipodshuffle.jpg

eating the silica packet is a bad bad idea... ask this guy:

http://www.worldpress.org/images/121104_YushchenkoBeforeAfte.jpg

How do you feel about silica jel?

i aksed this thread title in science class when i was 9 -- teacher didn't know.

Ask for a refund.

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.

So... can someone eat one and report back?

http://www.joblo.com/images_arrownews/SourFace2.JPG

Do Not Eat
AGELESS

"Famous quotes" now appearing on packets of silica gel in yr nbd:

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/3677/photo6od4.jpg

sarcastic silica

made from basilica

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

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.

You must be really bored!

WTG!

I like your impromptu science experiment!

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.

^^^ Reading that, I almost insulted myself.

bahahaha

"Taking the insult" takes on a whole complex of meanings now.

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.

Update: 30 min later, the "gel" still hasn't absorbed all the insult, er, water.

^^^ It's a well known fact that insults are acidic. Maybe that affects the absorbency, so try adding some lemon juice to the water?

An insult that isn't acidic is more of a playful taunt.

Considering dipping a couple purity balls in the sol'n b/c of lack of lemons.

Update: Wet silica gel has a very faint odor of like new book or something.

I've done the "sachet of silica gel + drops of water" thing several times now. Never fails to amuse.

An insult that isn't acidic is more of a playful taunt.

And you have to drink tons of water to get there.

Whoa what did I do there?

I don't know, but you have my attention.

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, you must be even more bored than me.

How much water? I poured in too much at first, myself.

Like a half cup (4 oz) maybe.

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.

My guitar controller for Guitar Hero III came with a couple of packets of Silica Gel.

https://waskstudio.com/products/sealed-fate-candy-packets

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.

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.

http://files.explosm.net/comics/Rob/pepperoni.png

Thats from 2007 and it was the first thing I thought of seeing this thread haha.