Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Thermo-sensitive spoons

I got a very nice present that I love very much! I've been searching high and low all over the internet for this set of thermo-sensitive spoons. They're once a novelty that died out some time ago.

These are baby-spoons, once made by several natal/baby-product companies, but most of their products have been discontinued. Brands such as Munchkin.

Well, this technology is not new, but it's so cool to have one that I can have in hall that no other student has. A spoon that changes colour when put into a hot/warm liquid. It's called thermo-chromatic properties and there are two types of dyes, the thermo-chromatic crystals that are present in novelty "mood-rings", or "mood-sensitive" toys that changes colour when you touch them. These dyes are also present in "thermal-strips" that changes colour due to temperature changes and can be found in aquarium temperature strips and some medical temperature strips.

Those crystals change colour due to heat, unfortunately, that type of thermo-chromatic crystals present in shirts/toys/mood-rings/"mood"-clothing/temperature strips are toxic. They do not have a large temperature range or tolerance either and have a characteristic green/blue/yellowish hue on a dark background.

This spoon uses another form of thermochromatic dye properties, it is non-toxic, polymerizable in plastic and has a higher heat and mechanical tolerance/tensile properties.

The downside is that it's thermo-chromatic property is only discolouration. (upon heat-exitation, it loses it's dye-colouring), it doesn't have a range of colours to depict temperature changes. Just an "on/off" state. But it serves it's purpose by telling you if the food/liquid is too hot for consumption!

And it may just be a spoon but I find them cool enough! You may ask me for more information if you are interested.

Yeah, I am happy with simple presents like this.