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Ice pack

 
Ice Pack

 
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An ice pack (commonly used therapeutically) is a plastic sac of crushed or cubed ice, refrigerant
Refrigerant

A refrigerant is a compound used in a heat engine that undergoes a phase change from a gas to a liquid and back. The two main uses of refrigerants are refrigerators/freezers and air conditioners ....
 gel or liquid, or even frozen vegetables.






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Ice Pack
Leaky Icepack
An ice pack (commonly used therapeutically) is a plastic sac of crushed or cubed ice, refrigerant
Refrigerant

A refrigerant is a compound used in a heat engine that undergoes a phase change from a gas to a liquid and back. The two main uses of refrigerants are refrigerators/freezers and air conditioners ....
 gel or liquid, or even frozen vegetables.
This refrigerant, usually non-toxic
Toxicity

Toxicity is the degree to which a substance is able to damage an exposed organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver ....
, can absorb considerable heat, since its specific heat is high.

The most common type of ice pack is simply a sack, bag or towel filled with cubed or crushed ice. It is commonly used to alleviate the pain of minor injuries.

Ice packs are used in cooler
Cooler

A cooler most commonly is an Thermal insulationd box used to keep food or drink cool. Ice cubes, which are very cold, are most commonly placed in it to make the things inside stay cool....
s to keep disease-bearing foods (meats, milk products, eggs, etc.) below to keep them safe for eating. If the foods and the ice packs fill the cooler directly from the freezer, then the equivalent of 10 to 20 pounds of ice is needed for each 24 hour period. If the ice pack is filled with a coolant, then the same weight may last longer. If the foods come from the refrigerator then they will not stay cool as long with the same size ice pack. These foods should remain over and under for no longer than 4 hours accumulated over their entire existence. In that way, ice packs can be considered equivalent to a larger mass of ice.

Ice packs have the added benefit over ice that they do not cross-contaminate foods as ice can do when it turns liquid and mixes with the foods.

Another type of ice pack uses the endothermic reaction of ammonium nitrate
Ammonium nitrate

The chemical compound ammonium nitrate, the nitrate of ammonia with the chemical formula NitrogenHydrogen4NitrogenOxygen3, is a white powder at room temperature and standard pressure....
 and water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
 to cool down quickly. When one breaks a tube inside the pack the ammonium nitrate is released allowing it to mix with the water.

Resources

http://home.howstuffworks.com/refrigerator7.htm

See also

  • Cryotherapy
    Cryotherapy

    Cryotherapy is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part. Its goal is to decrease cellular metabolism, increase cellular survival, decrease inflammation, decrease pain and spasm, promote vasoconstriction, and when using extreme temperatures, to destroy cells by crystalizing the cy...
  • Heating pad
    Heating pad

    A heating pad is a pad used for warming of parts of the body in order to manage pain. Localized application of heat causes the blood vessels in that area to vasodilator, enhancing perfusion to the targeted tissue....