miracle thaw tray

[oligopoly]

Hi does anyone know how exactly these miracle thaw trays work? The tray is black and metallic if that helps

[Cetti]

This is no help whatsoever, but I've had mine for about 15 years, and wouldn't be without it.

I bought it at an Ideal Home Exhibition and was told that it was a by-product of the Space industry, developed by NASA.

[paulz]

I think ours is aluminium a good conductor of heat, and the matt ish black colour gives of the heat even quicker.  Also work well in reverse, cooling down a hot plate of food [e.g. for a child ]

[madgeezer]

i bought mine for a tenner from harrods... the instructions say: to thaw its best if the tray is warm or warmed up before thawing. its just a black tray so if you had a warm metal tray at home it would pretty do much the same thing

[oligopoly]

Try this:

If you take the tray at room temperature (not heated up or anything) it will feel cold to touch. If you then place an ice cube onto the tray, it will melt at an extremely quick rate.

That can't just be due to the fact it is metal or black ???!!

[cassimer]

Its all about conduction of heat. Metals feel cold to the touch to us as they conduct heat fast as the atoms are  arranged in a neat order.  Wood feels warm as it is a poor conductor - atoms jumbled up a bit in arrangement.  In reality they are both the same temperature if left inside the house, just feel different to touch. Therefore your ice cube would melt fast, especially as its heat (cold in this case in relation to the ambient temp) travels away quickly through the metal. This is the whole principle by which your tray works.

[gen2]

cassimer, cold is NOT conducted away. Cold is just an absence of heay. For the ice-cube to melt, the heat from the room is conducted TO the ice-cube through the tray.

[oligopoly]

wow- a reply after a year and a half of posting! so what are you saying gen2?

[gen2]

Someone has just asked a question about the miracle thaw tray and I did a search. I noticed that you thought cold could be conducted. What I am saying is that scientifically speaking, that is impossible. Cold is just less (or an absence of) heat. When a cold object warms up (melts), it does so, not because cold is conducted away, but because heat is conducted to it.

If you are interested, the current question is at:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/How-it-Works/Qu estion579170.html

[waxtheknob]

I am using mine right now to thaw some ground beef. I understand he science of conduction, i.e. Heat travels to where there is an absence of heat. But, I am interested to know exactly what metal this tray is made of, is it anything special, and why spend $20 for a little metal tray (mine was a gift) haha

[Downtowner01]

Per description of product an Amazon.com:.
Thaws meats and frozen vegetables faster to shorten your meal prep time. It's made of a super-conductive metal alloy that absorbs heat from the air and transfers it directly to the frozen food. Simply turn meat over midway through thawing time to ensure it's thoroughly unfrozen. Thawing time may vary due to thickness and weight of food, room temperature or other conditions. Not for use in microwaves, stoves or ovens