by ramces luna
Is there anything better than a legit life hack? Like figuring out a shortcut on your commute home or finding a new Excel shortcut that makes work a lot easier.
Every day, hacks are all around us, just waiting to be taken advantage of. Our Texas Engineers use their skills to change the world, but it turns out engineering principles come in handy in daily life as well.
Read and watch on for a trio of Texas Engineering life hacks.
The Microwave Hack
Do you ever feel like you’re in one of those over-the-top infomercials trying to sell you a $29.99 microwave just because your food didn’t warm up all the way? Hey, we’ve all been there! Luckily, our chemical engineers have found a simple and affordable life hack: using a wet paper towel in the microwave.
The heat energy in a microwave is attracted to moisture and will overheat moist parts of a dish while undercooking dry areas. That’s how some parts of reheated food come out ice cold while other parts are burning hot.
The damp paper towel, according to Lydia Contreras, a professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, spreads the moisture out, leading to a more even cook. Plus, the water molecules get excited when the microwave turns on to emit heat energy, heating the food faster and more efficiently.
One more thing: microwaving super-dried food, such as dried fruits or powders, is a bad idea. Sending you, the cash you saved and your warmed-up food a micro-wave 👋
The Productivity Hack
In the words of Tom Haverford from “Parks and Recreation”: “sometimes you gotta work a little so you can ball a lot.” In this work hack, we recommend you wait on a treat until after you’ve finished a task, instead of indulging before you get things done.
That good feeling when we reward ourselves with a snack or fun activity comes from dopamine, said Samantha Santacruz, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in many body functions, and it tends to reinforce the action that released it. Rewarding yourself after accomplishing tasks with a coffee/treat break reinforces productivity and encourages future productivity.
On the other hand, putting the reward before the work doesn’t encourage future productivity, quite the opposite.
Did you get to the end of this hack? Treat yo’ self to a little break before you move on to the next one!
The Battery Hack
Imagine this: you’re seeing your favorite artist in concert — maybe Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar or even The Killers — and you’ve been conserving your phone battery to take all the photos and videos of the show. However, by the time you get there, your battery is already down to 43% after it charged all night! What happened?
For maximum performance, don’t leave your device on the charger too long, says Guihua Yu, professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering. To make a lithium-ion battery — which powers personal electronics like smartphones and laptops — last as long as possible, avoid letting it sit at a full 100% charge, and don’t drain it to 0%.
Batteries get “stressed” when they’re either completely full or empty, which wears them out faster over time. We’ve all dealt with an older phone that dies before noon, and your charging habits play a role in that.
So, try to keep the charge somewhere in the middle — say, between 20% and 80%. Now you know watt’s up!
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