r/ChemicalEngineering • u/ClimateAlarming6875 • 5d ago

Meme :)

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u/SubjectMountain6195 4d ago

What if instead of coolant we add tomato soup?

23

u/a_trane13 4d ago

The coolant is usually water, and tomato sauce is mostly water and has a heat capacity of roughly 90% that of water. The other properties should be pretty close to water too. The cooling system is certainly designed with way more margin than 10%.

The coolant pipes are (nowadays) stainless steel or an even more corrosion resistant alloy, so corrosion is not an immediate concern (long term on the scale of years, probably, at least more concern than with water).

The pumps are almost certainly capable of handling the increased viscosity of the sauce.

So overall I think it would be fine, at least for months and probably years.

2

u/Suigurumi 4d ago

But wouldn't the residue build up incredibly quickly, reducing efficiency of the cooling, so it would most likely not even last a week.

1

u/a_trane13 4d ago

If it’s flowing then I don’t think so. A stirred pot of cooking tomato sauce doesn’t building up any residue.