[HN Gopher] How Silica Gel Took Over the World
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How Silica Gel Took Over the World
Author : Hooke
Score : 75 points
Date : 2025-04-01 19:33 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.scopeofwork.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.scopeofwork.net)
| Civitello wrote:
| What a perfect opportunity to link to one of my favourite candies
| https://waskstudio.com/products/sealed-fate-candy-packets
|
| Balls of hard candy shaped and packaged like silica gel!
| andrewSC wrote:
| What a fun little website!
| jonasdegendt wrote:
| Every time I stumble onto it I have to resist not buying five
| gimmicky things.
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| My favorite is the Short Sided Ruler.
|
| Perfect for April 1st.
| fuzzythinker wrote:
| Got to ask why?
| lovich wrote:
| Why not?
| fsckboy wrote:
| self explanatory, it's dessi- _can_ instead of dessi- _cant_
| buildsjets wrote:
| Why ask why? Try Bud Dry.
| neilv wrote:
| Lolimsorandom/imsoedgy types have plenty of space to work in,
| without messing with child safety.
| binarymax wrote:
| Also a perfect opportunity to link to one of my favorite comics
| https://onegianthand.com/post/188730414621/silica-gel
| Mistletoe wrote:
| Starting to put these in my hygroscopic fertilizers was a game
| changer. No more bricks of unusable waterlogged crap after a few
| years. You can regenerate the beads in the microwave and you can
| buy color-changing ones on Amazon that indicate their status.
| eande wrote:
| Another one of these fascinating super absorbent materials is SAP
| (Superabsorbent polymer).
|
| It is heavily used in diapers, tissues, water retention for
| plants, etc. SAP can absorb liquid up to 30-60 times its own
| volume.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superabsorbent_polymer
| dist-epoch wrote:
| I think it's more expensive, and I'm not sure it can absorb
| vapor (not liquid)
|
| It's fun that it has the same refractive index as water, so if
| you put clear ones in water they disappear. Then you ask
| someone to put their had in a bowl with them for a surprise.
| nvader wrote:
| I didn't find this in the article, so:
|
| You can "recharge" silical gel by baking in the oven at 120 C for
| a couple of hours. If you do, be careful to remove the casing
| before you do, unless it is heat safe.
|
| I have a small collection of oven safe dessicant packs that I
| keep on hand for emergency drying electronics.
| JohnFen wrote:
| I use a food dehydrator for this, but the principle is the
| same.
| nvader wrote:
| When my last phone took an unsanctioned swim, my research
| suggested that a food dehydrator is a last resort. It risks
| forcing water vapour further into the electronics of the
| system, rather than encouraging it to move out.
|
| I did find a clever solution online that tried to induce
| mechanical suction on your phone to force the vapour out, but
| it was too expensive for a one off use.
|
| In the end I had to resort to the food dryer anyway, after
| the silica gel failed to work.
| JohnFen wrote:
| I've never used it for drying wet electronics. The couple
| of times I've dunked my phone, I've just let it air-dry for
| a couple of days and it's been good.
|
| I use silca gel for storing 3D printing filament and long-
| term clothes storage.
| nemonemo wrote:
| This sounds like a great idea, but how do you keep it from
| being "drained" or hydrated?
| mrob wrote:
| I store mine in an plastic box with airtight lid designed for
| food storage.
| nvader wrote:
| Precisely this! Even so, I refresh them just before using
| them.
|
| TIL about the microwaving trick. I'll have to find out more
| about it. My concern would be the gel beads popping from
| internal pressure.
| NoahKAndrews wrote:
| If they're not getting hydrated slowly, they're not serving
| any purpose. The whole point is that water goes into them
| instead of whatever you're trying to keep dry.
| mrob wrote:
| If you're keeping them on hand for drying electronics in
| emergencies then you need to store them somewhere airtight.
| filoleg wrote:
| I think the grandparent comment meant keeping unhydrated
| during storage (for future uses of emergency drying
| electronics), not while it is being actively used for its
| intended purpose.
| wildzzz wrote:
| Immediately take them out of the oven and store in the
| smallest airtight container you have. Obviously they'll
| absorb the humidity in the container and whatever is
| introduced anytime you open it. Ideally, keep them in
| containers that have an excellent seal and minimal internal
| volume like quality ESD bags.
| thfuran wrote:
| I don't think I've ever seen an antistatic bag with a very
| good seal, and I'm not sure it's a good idea to drop
| something directly out of a hot oven into them either.
| cma wrote:
| Another option is a canning jar.
| reverendsteveii wrote:
| other people are suggesting the microwave rather than the
| oven. to my mind it seems very possible that you don't keep
| them from hydrating, you just dehydrate them on-demand.
| jonah wrote:
| In a "ziplock" bag which you have vacuumed all the air out
| of.
| jchw wrote:
| I use dessicants for 3D printing. I've heard you can dry them
| out safely by just microwaving them for a few seconds. I wonder
| if that's good enough.
| bayindirh wrote:
| You can get the ones with indicators, which change color
| according to how saturated they are.
|
| You can check the color to see whether it's time to microwave
| them, and whether they are dry once you microwaved them.
| bgnn wrote:
| I use them in my car against condensation.
|
| The instructions on tge cover say 3 minutes at 700W in the
| microwave.
| Graziano_M wrote:
| You can just microwave them too, on low power. It's much, much
| faster and power efficient.
| mrob wrote:
| Also much harder to control. Oven drying has the advantage
| that you can set the temperature so there's no risk of
| overheating anything.
| neilv wrote:
| Can someone speak authoritatively on how safe/unsafe it is to
| put the silica gel packets with cobalt chloride indicator into
| the oven?
|
| (By default, I've been assuming it's _not_ sufficiently safe.)
| imglorp wrote:
| Practical details about the types of desiccant beads and how to
| dry them.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tHInlFfMcM
| amiga386 wrote:
| https://onegianthand.com/post/188730414621/silica-gel
| FridayoLeary wrote:
| Why does it have the words DON'T EAT printed on every single
| package? you don't usually come across such warnings on other
| products.
| timerol wrote:
| Your body likes having water inside of it, and doesn't like
| having glass shards inside of it
| lovecg wrote:
| With millions and millions of those things around I'd guess
| quite a few get ingested accidentally and we don't hear of
| them causing problems. It must be pretty safe (well as safe
| as eating a small amount of sand is).
| celticninja wrote:
| https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-18619
| 3...
| celticninja wrote:
| Actually they are quite safe to eat.
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-186193.
| ..
| marcosdumay wrote:
| In small quantities. As somebody already pointed, your body
| likes to keep its water inside it, it also doesn't like
| when stuff carries large quantities of unmixed digestive
| fluids from one part of your body to another.
|
| They are probably quite harmful if large pieces get eaten
| in non-small quantities. Or powder in large quantities that
| are not previously mixed with a liquid. But I don't know of
| anybody that tested that.
| AdamH12113 wrote:
| The packets look like the little salt packets that come with
| fast food, and the stuff inside looks kind of like salt.
| netsharc wrote:
| Probably because they look like candy, and they're packaged
| with food a lot?
|
| Even if not packaged with food, these sachects left on the
| table while unboxing, e.g. a pair of shoes, might entice
| kids... And it's just easier to print "DO NOT EAT" rather than
| have separate production lines for "for shoes" and "for food".
|
| Although, from the description, it seems they're perfectly safe
| (because they're inert) to eat...
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| I'm pretty sure it's just following the rules of the strictest
| food packaging laws among the places they expect them to end
| up. In some jurisdictions non-food that is directly inside a
| package along with food needs to be labeled that way. So they
| just do em all like that.
| wildzzz wrote:
| It's a choking hazard that is sometimes included in food
| packaging so it's just to cover the manufacturer since they
| don't really know what products it may end up in. Silica gel is
| non-toxic although maybe could cause some issues if you
| deliberately ate a huge quantity of it.
| madcaptenor wrote:
| Before I had kids I wondered this. But it's really telling you
| to make sure your kids don't eat it.
| mmmlinux wrote:
| I realized this week for the first time exactly why. there was
| one in my instant ramen along with its other seasoning packets.
| If not paying attention you could easily be having your noodles
| with added desiccant flavor.
| jchw wrote:
| > That single gram of silica gel could have an internal surface
| area of eight hundred square meters--the size of almost two
| basketball courts.
|
| For us Americans, that's about 8600 square feet...and around a
| seventh of a football field.
| krunck wrote:
| Lets not forget the MST3k silica gel skit in:
| https://mst3k.fandom.com/wiki/MST3K_1103_-_The_Time_Traveler...
|
| https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8hb1jh @ 00:02:00
| Animats wrote:
| Five ads and seven "subscribe" buttons, for one short article
| about silica gel.
|
| Wikipedia has a better article.[1]
|
| > You can just microwave them too, on low power... Oven drying
| has the advantage that you can set the temperature so there's no
| risk of overheating anything.
|
| It's hard to hurt silica gel itself with kitchen level heat.
| Melting point 1200C. The packet it comes in is more of a risk.
| Although there are forms with other chemicals that change color
| when humid. Also, heating wet desiccant fast enough to produce
| steam might crack the material.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_gel
| ge96 wrote:
| The word desicant is burned into my mind from this guy talking
| about building some AC system
| benwikler wrote:
| Can't see this headline without thinking of my favorite cartoon
| of all time
| https://www.reddit.com/r/me_irl/comments/sqap29/me_irl/
| benwikler wrote:
| Ah, seeing that (apparently like-minded amiga386) came here to
| post the same thing:
| https://onegianthand.com/post/188730414621/silica-gel
| xfp wrote:
| The ones in food are often oxygen absorbers instead of
| dessicants. They contain iron "sand" that is, unfortunately, not
| reusable. They're usually very flat and have a "do not microwave"
| warning on them in addition to "do not eat".
|
| (This is not to say dessicant packets aren't used in food, just
| that not all of those packets are dessicants)
| Uzmanali wrote:
| As a kid, I imagined silica gel was a special treat. It seemed
| like the ultimate 'DO NOT EAT' dare. I put one in my mouth,
| waiting for superpowers or disaster.
|
| Turns out, it just tasted like disappointment and regret. 10/10
| would not recommend, but at least I lived to tell the tale!
| moonlighter wrote:
| Former W.R. Grace employee: Molecular Sieve Desiccant Beads (also
| manufactured by W.R.Grace) are even more absorbent than regular
| silica gel. It's found in most double-pane windows inside the
| metal track between both panes; slowly absorbing any moisture
| over many years to keep them from fogging/going 'blind'.
|
| You can use MS to dry flowers in record time... and use it to
| quickly heat up baby food in a pinch if needed... just put a
| smaller container of food in a bigger pod filled with MS and pour
| water of the MS... it's ultra-rapid absorption of water creates
| heat as a byproduct.
| jas39 wrote:
| This is sold as crystal cat litter. Very useful to put a sock in
| the car, the boat or the check-in luggage.
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(page generated 2025-04-01 23:00 UTC)