Instant Hot Ice

Have you guys seen this before?
[www.wikihow.com]

If you watch the video you'll see that the liquid instantly forms a solid when poured over the crystals. I'm not sure what the properties of the solid are after it cools but it could be used for something.

I used to make sodium acetate from acetic acid and baking soda. Makes nice crystals. The only problem is that vinegar is just about the only source of acetic acid readily available in the US. When I emigrated to Sweden back in the late 1970's I discovered that the Swedes sold much higher purity acetic acid that you added to water to make kitchen vinegar. That stuff was primo for making sodium acetate.

I have tried to do 3d-printing with sodium acetate made from vinegar and baking soda. The only problem is that the sodium acetate started to crystallize before it cooled down and I could start printing with it. However, you might get better results if you use 'clean' sodium acetate. After sodium acetate cools it's hard, brittle, and water soluble. Hydrous sodium acetate also 'melts' when you heat it up, which might be useful for something or bothersome if you want to make support material...

If it can be made to print while remaining easy to dissolve afterwards it sounds like it would be an ideal material for doing "lost wax" casting molds.

I've made sodium acetate from vinegar and baking soda before. Here's my instructable: [www.instructables.com]

I found that it wasn't pure enough to use as "hot ice". The impurities cause it to crystallize too easily.

I later found someone else's instructable, which apparently produces a much better result: [www.instructables.com]