Cooling Mist

[tkingdoll]

I was at a familly barbeque yesterday and my mum was spraying her arms with something from an aerosol can. She asked me if I wanted to try it, and called it "Cooling Mist". I asked what it was, and she said it was a special spray to cool you down.

I looked at the front of the can and saw that it was rather vague in terms of what the spray actually was. That can only mean one of two things. Either it contains something it shouldn't, or it contains bugger all.

I opted for "bugger all", and, without turning the can round and reading the ingredients, I said to her "I suspect this is just water".

"No", She said, "it's a proper spray to cool you down".

It's interesting that consumers will think that a special ingredient will cool you down, but that mere water will not.

I turned over the can and read the back. Ingredients: Purified Water.

I showed my mum and she admitted she'd paid 99p for it. For a can of water!

I told her that Notcutts sell plant sprayers for 59p which hold 10 times as much and are refillable forever.

Cooling Mist, indeed. It was a pretty small can, too, how much aluminium and propellent is wasted on this crap?

>:(

[Jessie]

I've seen those sprays in the Chemist...... like you say, what an absolute waste.

I want one of these :-

http://www.sunsafe.co.uk/images/spray_way.350.jpg

To be delivered in approx. five minutes time would be nice ;D O0 O0 O0

[Mojo]

If it's still as hot as this at 10:30 this evening I'll be spending half an hour listening to something relaxing in a bath full of cold water (it's very pleasant in this weather, once you get over the initial shock).

[Aardvark]

My Mum buys exactly the same thing called cooling mist as well. Perhaps our ability to discriminate deteriorates with advancing years, now where did I put those Shakti Stones ;D

[Admin]

Perhaps it's a mother thing as I'm sure that my Mam had some of this spray too. ???

The other thing she bought was a naturalTM headache reliever called 4head. It is basically a stick that you rub on your forehead and it cures headaches!

It had a menthol in it which evaporates so it probably had some sort of cooling effect but that's it. It didn't work and it cost £6.00 for a stick. :o

[Jessie]

Errrr I bought that - the 4Head stuff ::) ::) ::)

Strictly for testing purposes only of course :P :-[ :liar:

And..... surprise surprise...it did NOT work ;D ;D ;D Smelt nice though :)

[Admin]

People just accept the advertising claims for these things - a look at the ingredients usually helps to work out the bogus products though.

I remember reading a thread about 4head somewhere and people were saying that it worked but for a bad headache you had to take aspirin as well. ;D

[Jessie]

it worked but for a bad headache you had to take aspirin as well.

::) ::) ;D ;D ;D Bet that isn't mentioned on the packaging ;D

[Aardvark]

People just accept the advertising claims for these things - a look at the ingredients usually helps to work out the bogus products though.

I remember reading a thread about 4head somewhere and people were saying that it worked but for a bad headache you had to take aspirin as well. ;D


Not a big fan of aspirin for a headache myself.

My choice would be co-codamol, available from a Pharmacy. Contains 500mg of paracetamol and just enough codeine (8mg) to make a difference. This even works for those headaches that you have swallowed the night before. :-\ :-X

[Admin]

I find Aspirin much better for headaches than Paracetamol. ??? (or is that me succumbing to the placebo effect?)

Is co-codamol available without prescription now? Codeine is an opiate - damn good stuff ;D

JJ's top tip: when drinking copious amounts of alcohol, take 2 aspirin before going to bed and you'll have less of a headache in the morning.

[vbloke]

Don't forget good old caffeine - I sometimes find a good cup of tea/coffee/cola helps with a headache.

Some headaches can be attributed to caffeine withdrawal (at least mine can ???)

It amazed me a while ago to find Neurofen had more caffeine per tablet than Pro Plus

[tkingdoll]

I tend to use the super strength Anadin, they get rid of the headache, give you a caffeine kick, and they come in funky blue jelly capsules that look like space food pills.

[Admin]

Super strength anadins ???

I should get some of them for Sunday mornings ;D

[Aardvark]

I find Aspirin much better for headaches than Paracetamol. ??? (or is that me succumbing to the placebo effect?)

Is co-codamol available without prescription now? Codeine is an opiate - damn good stuff ;D

JJ's top tip: when drinking copious amounts of alcohol, take 2 aspirin before going to bed and you'll have less of a headache in the morning.


Paracetamol plus 8mg codeine can be bought from a Pharmacy when there is a Pharmacist on duty.

Codeine is methyl-morphine which is a controlled drug in Greece.

Higher levels of codeine are only available on prescription.

Carefull taking ASA after consuming alcohol. Beer and spirits can cause gastritis, inflamation of the stomach mucosal lining, ASA is also a direct irritant and once absorbed into the blood can also be an indirect irritant by blocking production of cytoprotective prostaglandins in the gut such as pge2alpha. Paracetamol is not a gastric irritant.

When caffeine is added to analgesics it it usually at a level of 30mg to act as a co- analgesic. This is similar to a cup of expresso coffee.

Aardvarks advice after drinking heavily
1 Rehydrate with 1 pint of water or diluted OJ
2 Eat a banana for potassium and starch
3 Take a couple of analgesics of your choice

A good path to follow is to drink a full glass of water for each glass of wine.

[doubting thomas]

Aardvark said:-

Aardvarks advice after drinking heavily
1 Rehydrate with 1 pint of water or diluted OJ
2 Eat a banana for potassium and starch
3 Take a couple of analgesics of your choice

A good path to follow is to drink a full glass of water for each glass of wine.


At last, some sensible advice from someone who should know.

The only difference with me is to leave out item 3, i almost never take pain killers of any kind.

[Aardvark]

Aardvark said:-

Aardvarks advice after drinking heavily
1 Rehydrate with 1 pint of water or diluted OJ
2 Eat a banana for potassium and starch
3 Take a couple of analgesics of your choice

A good path to follow is to drink a full glass of water for each glass of wine.


At last, some sensible advice from someone who should know.

The only difference with me is to leave out item 3, i almost never take pain killers of any kind.



You are probably right on the analgesics, why add to the load on your liver prophylactically when you can wait and see if you actually have a headache in the morning. Following steps 1 and 2 will reduce this risk a lot on its own.

As a young man, I never took analgesics but as I get older, my body doesn't need to last as long and there have been times when my sense of occasion has overtaken my ability to rationalise my alcohol intake.

For non induced headaches, I find a walk in the local woods and fresh air is a big help, together with a pint mug of steaming sweet tea ( loose leaf Assam from Booth's Supermarket)

For back pain and knee pain ( old injury) I follow the exercises guidlines from my physio and will at times use a topical anti inflammatory gel on my knee which are licenced for single joint pain and inflammation in the UK.

Over the years I have contracted with the local NHS for supply of most types of analgesic, compound analgesic, weak opioid and NSAID

[Admin]

You're right of course Aardvark. Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) or aspirin is a stomach iritant too and can cause ulcers. Fortunately it doesn't affect me when I do take it.

So my advice was inappropriate (but it does work ;)).

Just as well as after a long day I might indulge in some alcohol therapy and watch the Germany-Poland match. ;D

[doubting thomas]

We seem to have strayed away from the original thread again ::)

No one seems to have mentioned that there is some basis in physics for the original thread, ie evaporation, the process of which, does have a cooling effect.

I'm not an expert but there's bound to be someone on here who can explain it in laymans terms.

[tkingdoll]

We seem to have strayed away from the original thread again ::)

No one seems to have mentioned that there is some basis in physics for the original thread, ie evaporation, the process of which, does have a cooling effect.

I'm not an expert but there's bound to be someone on here who can explain it in laymans terms.


Oh, I don't doubt that. What I do doubt is that it's worth 99p for a little bottle when you can just fill up a plant mister from the tap.

[doubting thomas]

I totally agree with you, i wasn't agreeing with the product one bit.

[median]

No one seems to have mentioned that there is some basis in physics for the original thread, ie evaporation, the process of which, does have a cooling effect

Quite right the application of water onto the skin functions in 2 ways. Firstly the body is using its own energy to evaporate the moisture (energy which incidently is substantial when going from a liquid to gas phase) and secondly moisture on the skin aids convective heat loss which also cools the skin.

This explains the basis of saliva spreading within small animals (rats, cats etc)

Hey how about that, I got away without making jokes about licking pu......

I think I'll end there. ;) :D

[tkingdoll]

So does it make a difference if the water is cooler to start with? Obviously it feels different when you spray it, but does the convective heat thingummy and the energy evaporation whatsit effect change with the temperature of the water?

[median]

Which leads me to an idea :o

Powdered water. O0

I can see it now...add one sachet of powder to a jug and to make 5 pints of water....fill with water

It'll be a winner...who wants part of the franchise? :D

[doubting thomas]

Will you have to add a colouring to it, otherwise people will think there's nothing there... ;D ;D

[median]

So does it make a difference if the water is cooler to start with? Obviously it feels different when you spray it, but does the convective heat thingummy and the energy evaporation whatsit effect change with the temperature of the water?

The temperature of the water will make a difference to both conductive and convective losses.
The greater the difference in temperature between hot and cold body then the more rapid the energy exchange to reach equilibrium will be and the lower the equilibrium temperature will be, given that the initial hot temperature is the same in both cases (50 to 40 vs. 50 to 10 for example)
Evaporative heat loss is relatively unaffected.

:)

[median]

[Will you have to add a colouring to it, otherwise people will think there's nothing there... 

Good idea DT

We'll make the powder out of cochineal..add some bicarb to add some effervescence.

It'll be bigger than Peckham Spring...or for that matter Dasani  ;D ;D ;D







Edit: fix the quote tag.

[doubting thomas]

So does it make a difference if the water is cooler to start with? Obviously it feels different when you spray it, but does the convective heat thingummy and the energy evaporation whatsit effect change with the temperature of the water?

The temperature of the water will make a difference to both conductive and convective losses.
The greater the difference in temperature between hot and cold body then the more rapid the energy exchange to reach equilibrium will be and the lower the equilibrium temperature will be, given that the initial hot temperature is the same in both cases (50 to 40 vs. 50 to 10 for example)
Evaporative heat loss is relatively unaffected.
:)



:wnw: :wnw: :wnw:

[Admin]

So does it make a difference if the water is cooler to start with? Obviously it feels different when you spray it

Colder water will have more of an effect and also the size of the droplets too. The finer the spray the better the cooling effect. It's probably to do with the larger total surface area of the combined droplets.

The most important factor though is the use of Skepta Water (http://www.ukskeptics.com/article.php?dir=articles&article=skepta_water.php)TM ;D

[Aardvark]

Will you have to add a colouring to it, otherwise people will think there's nothing there... ;D ;D


We will obviously leave out the colouring in the homeopathic version :D

[median]

The most important factor though is the use of Skepta WaterTM

Christ is that what it's called?...order me a jeroboam of the stuff


[Colder water will have more of an effect and also the size of the droplets too. The finer the spray the better the cooling effect. It's probably to do with the larger total surface area of the combined droplets.


Actually, irrespective of whether your are drenched with a hose or sprayed with an aerosol. The result should eventually be the same. The droplets on the skin will coalesce to a finite size.
Mind you, this will possibly be modified to some extent, depending on how well 'oiled' you are (oo-err) or if you a hairy bastard or not.

Sorry, I have better things to do than to measure the output of sweat glands on hirsute individuals.

Skeptic, possibly......fetishist.....never...

Errmm...does moleskin count? ::)






Edit: fix quote.

[tkingdoll]

So does it make a difference if the water is cooler to start with? Obviously it feels different when you spray it

Colder water will have more of an effect and also the size of the droplets too. The finer the spray the better the cooling effect. It's probably to do with the larger total surface area of the combined droplets.



Hmm. OK, so it's safe to assume that the aluminium can will keep the water cooler than a plastic bottle?

And from what I saw, the spray was finer than a plant mister will give you.

So perhaps it's not a ripoff after all, just a bit overpriced and wasteful (regarding the can).

I'd like to experiment with the Cooling Mist and a plant mister and see if there's any discernable difference, but that'll be impossible to blind if one spray is finer. I could do a subjective test I suppose.

[vbloke]

also, you could try one with boiling water to see if cooler water vs hot water makes a difference >:D

[median]

Hmm. OK, so it's safe to assume that the aluminium can will keep the water cooler than a plastic bottle?

Teek

Theoretically, the aluminium can would be more susceptible to temperature fluctuations than plastic (which is the greater insulator). If the ambient air is very warm the contents will heat up.

However aerosol cans are subject to a process of cooling when some of the propellant gas used is released and the remaining gas expands to fill the volume. This might make exact comparisons difficult.

Anyway, Cooling Mist holds no allure pour moi

I go for the Lynx Effect (grrrowll) :-* ;)

Barf! ;D

[doubting thomas]

Median

You appear to be quite knowlagable about all this so I'm going to add one more variable, what about distilled water.

Do you think this would slow or speed up evaporation? :D

[median]

Interesting question DT

The rate of evaporation is going to be driven by factors such as heat and surface area of evaporating body irrespective of the composition of water.

It could be argued that dissolved salts could have an effect on a water composition's heat capacity but given that we are talking about 0.1% of the total volume, then I would have though the effects would be negligible.