Scientists at a Pennsylvania State University lab are developing ways to use sound waves to chill food. Research is sponsored by Ben and Jerry's ice cream!
They have produced a sonic fridge that converts very loud sounds to directly cool a fridge containing ice cream. The researchers hope that their work will end reliance on gases that can contribute to global warming [and] have exploited the fact that sound waves travel by compressing and expanding the gas that they are generated in. (…)
Humans feel pain when they hear sounds of 120 decibels, a level typically reached next to the speakers at a rock concert. The sounds pumped through the Penn State fridge reach 173 dB, tens of thousands of times more intense than any rock concert. Sounds of 165 dB would cause a person's hair to catch fire from the frictional heating caused by air undergoing such intense compression and expansion.
