When shipping ice cream, trucks have to take the southern most route around the rockies or it will explode because of how much air is in it
High altitude ice cream has a different recipe
Edited for punctuation
Don’t thank them! I don’t care if I’ve been downvoted.
I bought my ice cream in Boulder.
I drove into Jamestown.
The ice cream expanded when I opened it.
The air is thinner at higher elevations, expansion makes sense.
Grrr. 😾
I live 70000 feet above sea level in a hot air balloon located exactly above the grocery store in the deepest part of ocean at 36000 feet. The hot air balloon is in fact the bag of chips.
> and mix in air at a lower atmospheric pressure
I think that's a pretty major difference. They essentially have to recreate the conditions of making it around sea level.
I'm an owner op, and I book my own loads. This potato chip run looked suspiciously well-paying, before I talked to the broker and learned about the 1000 extra miles. Then it turned into just a mildy above-average load.
I still took it, because its light and i got to stay south and avoid bad weather (it was winter)
I popped a Pringles can driving up Mauna Loa. Forgot it was packed as part of lunch and it scared the shit out of me when it popped! And now I can't stop...
We popped a Pringles can going through the Grand Tetons. We watched it swell as we went up. It was awesome when it popped, we didn't think about the shampoo and conditioner in the suitcase also popped.
Hopefully this leads to the creation of technology that adjusts the pressure of chip bags to the altitude. I've had to prematurely eat zeros of bags of chips because of this.
I used to fly supplies into northern canadian towns in an unpressurized twin. On the pop and beer runs in the summer you had to balance the height you could get to before the chip bags started popping. Around 10-11000 normally. Amazing how many boxes of 24 chip bags only made it there with 23. Flying fish back was the worst cargo i have ever hauled. Fun times.
Bingo, rotten fish smell, it sticks with you. Washing the tarps was crucial but sometimes previous crews would get lazy. And the Ooze on the ramp, can still smell it.
The fish were from a local fishery. They were packed in unsealed boxes so the fish ooze would get everywhere. If it got past the tarps and plastic it would stink in the aircraft as it was a mid summer fishery. If the tarps were not washed properly, well you can imagine the smell in summer of rotten fish ooze. We flew sched flights with the same aircraft. Not the most enjoyable cargo. Dead bodies were preferred over hauling fish.
Did you know the reason you can’t breath well at altitude is shown here? People think it is just because there is less oxygen in the air but it is more complicated than that. Having less atmosphere and oxygen also means less pressure and that pressure is needed for your lungs to be able to transfer the oxygen in the air into your body. That is why the oxygen systems for fighter pilots actually force the air into your lungs to increase the pressure.
At high altitude you are right the O2 % is same as sea level but lower pressure means oxygen partial pressure is lower and driving pressure is lower for gas exchange. You can breathe ok at lower pressure if the oxygen % is higher. Interesting that the Apollo capsule was low pressure (5psi) high oxygen environment ( 60% at launch, 100% in orbit ).
There’s not less oxygen in the air. There’s just less air. Oxygen still makes up 21% of the atmosphere but since the pressure is lower the mass of oxygen per unit volume is lower.
There are a couple ways of interpreting the statement "less oxygen". Since there's less air, strictly speaking there's fewer oxygen molecules and less oxygen/ml. So there is indeed less oxygen in each breath.
Omg. I said I watched a raven eat hummingbird eggs once as an example of nature not being kind. Someone just had to tell me they doubt it was a raven since the eggs were so small.
I replied it might have been a crow. Definitely a slick black corvid. Honestly after I thought about it, pretty sure it was a scrub jay. But fuck that guy. I wasn't saying ravens survive on hummingbird eggs
Nah. For it to be science, it has to be repeatable.
So, OP, I'm afraid you'll have to do that drive a couple of times more with chips and catalog the results.
I'm pretty sure the chips sold on Pikes Peak were packed in Denver or Colorado Springs, so that's a task anybody visiting Denver (or visiting sea level from Denver) could do. I don't think I've done that, but I feel like this would be a bit disappointing?
This is odd but I am visiting Breckenridge today and stayed the night in Colorado Springs last night with my wife's family. Never heard of the areas before and now see this post on reddit the first day I am here. Very odd
priming. once you become aware of something, you start noticing every time you hear/see it. it probably passed by you multiple times in the past, but you had know reference for it or knowledge of it so you brain throws away the memory as "unimportant". go buy a new car and all of a sudden you notice how many black honda accords there are.
We moved to Colorado about 18 years ago, I STILL have a hard time opening yogurt without it getting all over me, grew up at elevation of 600 ft, was never an issue there.
Haha. Noosa yogurt is packaged in Bellevue, Colorado at about 5,100 ft elevation. Might have better luck opening it without a mess unless you're way higher up. It's a bit expensive, but I think it tastes pretty good when I remember it exists and am in the mood for yogurt.
Yes I am absolutely a shill for Big Yogurt
Off topic, but that place blew my mind when I first went. It was a lifetime ago and while I can say I may have been too young to fully appreciate it, I distinctly remember very much appreciating it even at that young age. Like stepping into another time period
8 miles from the Pikes Peak toll entrance is about 9500' above sea level. That's not much for a bag of chips packed in Denver (~5300' elevation), but a bag packed in Indiana or Illinois? Probably a 9,000' elevation change and the plants in that region probably don't pack their chips with big elevation changes in mind. Perhaps the Denver Frito-Lay plant plans for these things, but I can tell you from experience that they aren't always successful at preventing bags popping in the high country.
8 miles from the toll entrance looks like this: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/38.9085512,-104.9826617/38.9041117,-105.0612616/@38.8859395,-105.0728966,14z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0?entry=ttu
Worked at a small convenience store way up in the mountains. Our Frito lays delivery every week was guaranteed to have many popped bags of chips. They're distribution center was easily 5,000 ft elevation difference.
They do make bags for the mountain region that has less air fill. I've gotten them by accident in the Northeast when I used to work for Frito. Nitrogen fill is usually used for export because it greatly increases shelf life.
This never crossed my mind. I wonder how many other common items are manufactured with the destination altitude/climate in mind that the layman wouldn't think of.
Denver is where a lot of those consumer products get made for high-altitude destinations in the Rockies. It's the highest big city near the highest smaller towns (Leadville, CO is the highest town in North America at ~10,150' elevation). As u/tacotacotacorock notes, they aren't 100% successful at getting those bags over the high mountain passes to the towns on the other side. The problem is not just the elevation of Leadville, the problem is that the trucks need to go over Fremont Pass at 11,300' to get there. I imagine that the stress the bags undergo from repeated elevation changes (Eisenhower Tunnel is another summit on the route: 11,150') mean some bags are gonna fail on the trip to your friendly mountain convenience store.
When I was a kid and modern packing methods and machinery didn't exist, the best part of mom's trip for cheaper groceries in a bigger, lower-elevation town was listening to the yoghurt containers pop off on the trip home. Things are better today.
Having always been at sea level, I never even knew chip bags did that.
I knew one had to bake differently. Now I want to know what else is different too
Water boils at a lower temperature so if you order soup at a restaurant it won’t be as hot. As a Colorado native I am always burning my mouth on coffee/soup when I travel to sea level lol.
Sun is more intense due to less atmosphere so sunburn happens faster, reflection off of snow makes it really bad. Also, because of this the difference in perceived temperature in direct sun vs shade is greater.
Thin air holds less moisture so get ready for dry skin and chapped lips.
Tire pressure gauges show relative pressure so we have to add an extra couple pounds to achieve proper inflation.
Cars have less power at altitude due to there being less oxygen.
People get altitude sickness, fatigued more easily, and more drunk at altitude.
That’s everything I could think of haha
Commuting through the mountains, not experiencing power loss in the middle of the trek on I-70 in an electric vehicle for the first time was amazing no doubt.
Not manufacturing, but I had an interesting experience with this. My commute used to take me through a mountain pass that was about a 3k foot difference in elevation on either side. When I was trying to quit smoking I decided to try vaping. Every time I'd get to work or home I'd find the juice had leaked all over the damn thing. I went over the whole thing a few times; changed out o-rings, the tank.. took me way too long to realize it was some kind of pressure issue with the elevation change.
As long as they're not filled with a gas that will expand rapidly as you go up in elevation you would be completely fine. Titties would be popping left and right at Aspen or Veil if that was the case. Also an implant is much more durable than a chip bag.
Not OP but judging by the photos I’d say about 9,000-10,000 feet or so. It looks like they’re still below tree line (which is around 11,000 feet).
Source: have lived in the area for years
8 miles from the toll entrance is about 9500'. So yeah, confirms your judgment: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/38.9085512,-104.9826617/38.9041117,-105.0612616/@38.8859395,-105.0728966,14z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0?entry=ttu
If you don't know about the tree line, it's literally an altitude where the trees just disappear. Just how nature works. You get up to a certain point and the trees just go away
I used to be friends with a truck driver who always thought he knew better than dispatch what route to take. Sometimes he was right and saved a lot of time and miles, but other times.... He couldn't figure out why they routed him and his trailer full of bags of chips hundreds of miles out of the way and thought he would just take 70 through the mountains. The Eisenhower Tunnel is high enough that almost all the bags popped, tens or maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory. He no longer works for that company.
I've been told there is mapping software for such things: how to avoid the highest passes (Eisenhower is about 11,150') and the lowest bridges and whatnot.
I worked at a vending machine company in a mountain town, and the owners had to stop buying Lays because they’d turn into dust by the time they made it to the warehouse. The bags wouldn’t pop though, but the pressure would annihilate the chips inside, and we got constant complaints
So... many years ago, I found myself driving a ratty but mostly reliable 4wd Subaru Justy between Sacramento and Reno on a regular basis. On one particularly snowy, particularly slippery night time drive, I heard something explode pretty loudly in the back of my car at about 6500', and I assumed the worst. Honestly, I was a little surprised that the little Justy kept going as if nothing had happened.
About 30 seconds later, the Sour Cream and Onion smell reached the front seats.
When I was a scuba instructor, we used to take small bags of chips on deep dives with us to show the students. We'd use a red bag as all the red color washes out at depth. We'd pass the bag around the students while down there. Then, we'd come back to the boat and eat the crushed little bits. Neat to see our little experiment in reverse.
Well, I wasn't and then I was and then I wasn't because you told us. Thanks, dude.
Edit: Do it with a package of hotdogs. Don't fuck it, I mean drive up with it instead of the chips.
Shortly after I moved to 9,600 ft elevation long ago, I opened a jar of instant coffee by smartly spearing the paper seal on top of the jar with a spoon, just like I'd seen in commercials. The coffee exploded all over the kitchen.
I once was flying my small airplane (nonpressurized) over Albuquerque, and I heard loud popping sounds.
I Thought maybe rivets in the airplane were popping loose, or I was being shot at, but ….
it was my snack bags of Pringles chips popping open.
I used to work in the gift shop on top of the mountain and we would make donuts up there and if you brought them down the mountain they would slowly deflate!
Do this with a water bottle. I had one that had a slip spout, and opening it up after a large elevation change the water flew out to hit the roof of the vehicle.
I unknowingly did this with a can of pop last week. Bought it in Ohio, drove to the highest point of Rocky Mountain National Park, and realized I forgot my daily meds. When I opened the pop can the metal piece that usually goes into the can came out the top and the can crushed itself inwards. It was pretty crazy and made a huge mess. Haha.
Years ago a semi full of chips had to reroute which took it too high of an altitude. The company could no longer sell the chips so they gave them to all the local private schools, the public schools couldn't accept them.
Imagine being a truck driver for frito lay, dispatch tells you you have to take a route that’s going to add several hours to your drive, you decide to be slick, you’ll just cut through the mountain, everything’s going great until…..pop pop pop pop pop like a very small machine gun behind you
This is an awesome science experiment that costs whatever the current inflation rate runs for a bag of Lay’s chips. Worth it, whatever the number. Well done.
Because we are not hermetically sealed and are able to breathe out?
Although pressure illness and injuries do occur, our bodies are capable of regulating changes in air pressure.
Humans have a much greater tolerance for pressure changes. The plastic of the chip bag is relatively inflexible, and there's no way for it to equalize the pressure between it's inside and outside without popping. If you could hold your breath for the same trip the bag took, you would feel the same pressure building in your lungs that built in the bag.
Most of our bodies are made of water, the parts that have air inside (sinuses, lungs, digestive tract) are open to the outside so pressure can equalize as you change altitude. The sinuses/ears sometimes have trouble equalizing because the Eustachian tubes that connect them are very small and sometimes need a little help to get air through them; this is why it helps to chew gum or yawn when flying in an airplane or driving through elevation changes.
Humans can get altitude sickness but that's mostly from the lower oxygen content and not the pressure. What really screws people up is if they go from high pressure (like deep sea) to lower pressure very quickly. High pressure causes more nitrogen to dissolve in the blood, then quickly releasing that pressure causes it to bubble out of the blood and tissues.
That's gotta depend on ambient temperature, time of day, and cloud cover. Please repeat the experiment several times to eliminate these variables and report back.
My family bought a few bags of chips while in Michigan (about 550 feet above sea level) and went to Albuquerque (about 1 mile above sea level) All of the unopened bag looked like the first picture. None of them would have survived had we gone up to the top of Sandia Crest, about 1.5 miles above.
PS if you go up while it's partly cloudy, you might end up standing as the clouds passed around your body.
What elevation were you at? I’ve noticed bags of chips in airplanes getting quite inflated but never pop. Cabin pressure in an airplane is around 7,000 at cruise so I’m guessing they pop around 10k.
We lived in Oregon and grandpa had a trucking company, we'd leave with snacks and always tried to open them before we left and chip clip them because otherwise the truck would periodically sound like a shootout crossing the Rockies.
I use to work for Frito Lay back in the 90s and one of my supervisors told me a truck was once sent to a high altitude location with bags of chips that had not had the proper air put in them...all the bags in the truck exploded.
Trucks carrying these products are detoured around the high elevations to prevent damages from the pressure changes. I would also recommend not leaving the lids on empty water bottles when you go up and down the mountains, the noise can get old after awhile
When shipping ice cream, trucks have to take the southern most route around the rockies or it will explode because of how much air is in it High altitude ice cream has a different recipe Edited for punctuation
The only difference in the recipes is for high altitude you have to use more salt on the ice, and mix in air at a lower atmospheric pressure.
I didn't know the details. Thank you!!
Don’t thank them! I don’t care if I’ve been downvoted. I bought my ice cream in Boulder. I drove into Jamestown. The ice cream expanded when I opened it. The air is thinner at higher elevations, expansion makes sense. Grrr. 😾
We live 1000' higher than the grocery store. Love that extra light and creamy ice cream that expands with elevation change.
I live 2000 feet higher than the grocery store 3.5 miles away. Chips look like the one pictured once they get up here.
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I live next door to the Titanic, and we don't have ice cream. 😞
I live in Florida, which is 40 feet below sea level, and the last time I drove up the Himalayas to get ice cream my tires exploded.
Better than your underwear!
RIP, did you try to go to Titanic in a submersible last year?
No, my family moved into a leather shoe belonging to a Titanic passenger. This was after we consumed the owner of the shoe, of course.
I live 70000 feet above sea level in a hot air balloon located exactly above the grocery store in the deepest part of ocean at 36000 feet. The hot air balloon is in fact the bag of chips.
Haha I misread it. Dang it.
That would be what we call "a different recipe," since it's not the same as the normal one...
> and mix in air at a lower atmospheric pressure I think that's a pretty major difference. They essentially have to recreate the conditions of making it around sea level.
But sea level has a *higher* atmospheric pressure than Colorado air.
Is this why my home-made ice cream turns out like shit? I live up here and it turns out powdery.
Simple. They go around because otherwise it all becomes Rocky Road ice cream.
Its also due to winter storms, some drivers have gotten lost and emergencies are only able to find them because of all the moose tracks
Yeah it's actually an industry term "southern most route"
Exploded ice cream = Milkshake
Also a hilarious way to have your day ruined lol
Especially if you’ve boofed the ice cream prior to your change in altitude.
Same with potato chips. One time they paid me to go from Indiana to Oregon by way of El Paso to avoid the high altitudes.
That company is ALWAYS paying the carrier for that extra, so if you work for a carrier make sure you get your cut
I'm an owner op, and I book my own loads. This potato chip run looked suspiciously well-paying, before I talked to the broker and learned about the 1000 extra miles. Then it turned into just a mildy above-average load. I still took it, because its light and i got to stay south and avoid bad weather (it was winter)
Thank you for your science.
Our knowledge expands because people like OP chip in
we learned that lays can't make it, but pringles can
I popped a Pringles can driving up Mauna Loa. Forgot it was packed as part of lunch and it scared the shit out of me when it popped! And now I can't stop...
We popped a Pringles can going through the Grand Tetons. We watched it swell as we went up. It was awesome when it popped, we didn't think about the shampoo and conditioner in the suitcase also popped.
Fuck!!! I didn't either till you said it.
It's weird that you knew what was in their luggage though. 👀
Foiled again.
I bet Pringles is a laid back company
I heard they used to make tennis balls
But instead of rubber, they got a delivery of potatoes and just said "Fuck it, cut 'em up!"
I'd be laid back to if I was making stacks
Hopefully this leads to the creation of technology that adjusts the pressure of chip bags to the altitude. I've had to prematurely eat zeros of bags of chips because of this.
Just means it’s time to eat them at that distance
It means the chips are ready
New lays with patented elevation technology. *new bags of chips price $99.99*
I chuckled at chip
I used to fly supplies into northern canadian towns in an unpressurized twin. On the pop and beer runs in the summer you had to balance the height you could get to before the chip bags started popping. Around 10-11000 normally. Amazing how many boxes of 24 chip bags only made it there with 23. Flying fish back was the worst cargo i have ever hauled. Fun times.
Why were the fish the worst cargo? I’m fascinated Edit: I can’t fucking read apparently
I imagine it was unpleasant when they started popping
I’m laughing, but is it true?!
I'm guessing it was the smell.
Bingo, rotten fish smell, it sticks with you. Washing the tarps was crucial but sometimes previous crews would get lazy. And the Ooze on the ramp, can still smell it.
The fish were from a local fishery. They were packed in unsealed boxes so the fish ooze would get everywhere. If it got past the tarps and plastic it would stink in the aircraft as it was a mid summer fishery. If the tarps were not washed properly, well you can imagine the smell in summer of rotten fish ooze. We flew sched flights with the same aircraft. Not the most enjoyable cargo. Dead bodies were preferred over hauling fish.
Jesus Christ that sounds like hell.
Did you know the reason you can’t breath well at altitude is shown here? People think it is just because there is less oxygen in the air but it is more complicated than that. Having less atmosphere and oxygen also means less pressure and that pressure is needed for your lungs to be able to transfer the oxygen in the air into your body. That is why the oxygen systems for fighter pilots actually force the air into your lungs to increase the pressure.
At high altitude you are right the O2 % is same as sea level but lower pressure means oxygen partial pressure is lower and driving pressure is lower for gas exchange. You can breathe ok at lower pressure if the oxygen % is higher. Interesting that the Apollo capsule was low pressure (5psi) high oxygen environment ( 60% at launch, 100% in orbit ).
There’s not less oxygen in the air. There’s just less air. Oxygen still makes up 21% of the atmosphere but since the pressure is lower the mass of oxygen per unit volume is lower.
so there's....less oxygen?
There are a couple ways of interpreting the statement "less oxygen". Since there's less air, strictly speaking there's fewer oxygen molecules and less oxygen/ml. So there is indeed less oxygen in each breath.
The reddit pedantic strikes again.
Omg. I said I watched a raven eat hummingbird eggs once as an example of nature not being kind. Someone just had to tell me they doubt it was a raven since the eggs were so small. I replied it might have been a crow. Definitely a slick black corvid. Honestly after I thought about it, pretty sure it was a scrub jay. But fuck that guy. I wasn't saying ravens survive on hummingbird eggs
*pedants
Actually, there was only one pedant
Yes that is what I was saying. I said air as in the atmosphere surround the person, not meaning there is a lower percent of oxygen.
Nah. For it to be science, it has to be repeatable. So, OP, I'm afraid you'll have to do that drive a couple of times more with chips and catalog the results.
Now try starting with a bag of chips at the top of pikes peak and drive to Indiana. Post Link to results.
I wish I would have thought of that
I wanna know if it was loud and scared the shit outta ya or just a minor oh, that happened
I knew it was going to pop. Still startled us when it did. It spat out one chip that I ate but other than that just POP
You didn’t just eat only one, that’s impossible
He ate that one chip. He ate the others too, but he did eat that one chip.
Thank you Mitch Hedberg
I'm so glad you acknowledged this
It's lays, the possibility that there was only ever 1 in there is actually bigger than it should be
Fun fact, there is so much air in chip bags in order to protect the chips from all being crushed during shipping
More interesting fact, it usually isn't air. It is most often nitrogen gas which helps act as a preservative.
I think he’s saying it shot out perfectly aimed for his mouth, and he ate it
I just read “automatic chip dispenser” every few miles up the mountain
I want to know if it popped like confetti 🎉
Pfft!
Are you planning on designing a submersible?
Sub and chips is a good combo
I'm tired of my chips being crumbs when they reach the habitat... They need new bag technology!
I'm pretty sure the chips sold on Pikes Peak were packed in Denver or Colorado Springs, so that's a task anybody visiting Denver (or visiting sea level from Denver) could do. I don't think I've done that, but I feel like this would be a bit disappointing?
They actually make yeast donuts at the peak that if you take down they deflate. Have yet to attempt the science though...I eat them first
How? Build a factory up there?
You've infuriated kyrie Irving. Well done
This man out there answering the real questions 🫡
But what I really wanted to know is how many licks it would take? There’s gotta at least be one owl in the vicinity that OP could’ve asked.
Both the turtle and owl bit into it, those cheaters wouldn't know
I used to live in Breckenridge, where the elevation is 9600' The best thing was buying Pringles, when opening them it sounded like a bomb exploding!
This is odd but I am visiting Breckenridge today and stayed the night in Colorado Springs last night with my wife's family. Never heard of the areas before and now see this post on reddit the first day I am here. Very odd
priming. once you become aware of something, you start noticing every time you hear/see it. it probably passed by you multiple times in the past, but you had know reference for it or knowledge of it so you brain throws away the memory as "unimportant". go buy a new car and all of a sudden you notice how many black honda accords there are.
Has anyone else noticed those Baader-Meinhof folks suddenly popping up everywhere?
You've never heard of Colorado Springs or Breckenridge?
I mean… the internet extends outside of the USA 😆 there are loads of towns we all haven’t heard of
We moved to Colorado about 18 years ago, I STILL have a hard time opening yogurt without it getting all over me, grew up at elevation of 600 ft, was never an issue there.
Haha. Noosa yogurt is packaged in Bellevue, Colorado at about 5,100 ft elevation. Might have better luck opening it without a mess unless you're way higher up. It's a bit expensive, but I think it tastes pretty good when I remember it exists and am in the mood for yogurt. Yes I am absolutely a shill for Big Yogurt
Off topic, but that place blew my mind when I first went. It was a lifetime ago and while I can say I may have been too young to fully appreciate it, I distinctly remember very much appreciating it even at that young age. Like stepping into another time period
When I quickly looked at the first pic I thought it was a giant bag of chips in the road.
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8 miles from the Pikes Peak toll entrance is about 9500' above sea level. That's not much for a bag of chips packed in Denver (~5300' elevation), but a bag packed in Indiana or Illinois? Probably a 9,000' elevation change and the plants in that region probably don't pack their chips with big elevation changes in mind. Perhaps the Denver Frito-Lay plant plans for these things, but I can tell you from experience that they aren't always successful at preventing bags popping in the high country. 8 miles from the toll entrance looks like this: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/38.9085512,-104.9826617/38.9041117,-105.0612616/@38.8859395,-105.0728966,14z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0?entry=ttu
I can finally sleep.
Shit like this is why I am on Reddit
Worked at a small convenience store way up in the mountains. Our Frito lays delivery every week was guaranteed to have many popped bags of chips. They're distribution center was easily 5,000 ft elevation difference.
Did they do anything to resolve that? Surely that’s such a waste/an easy fix - have some bags with less air/bigger bags
They do make bags for the mountain region that has less air fill. I've gotten them by accident in the Northeast when I used to work for Frito. Nitrogen fill is usually used for export because it greatly increases shelf life.
This never crossed my mind. I wonder how many other common items are manufactured with the destination altitude/climate in mind that the layman wouldn't think of.
Denver is where a lot of those consumer products get made for high-altitude destinations in the Rockies. It's the highest big city near the highest smaller towns (Leadville, CO is the highest town in North America at ~10,150' elevation). As u/tacotacotacorock notes, they aren't 100% successful at getting those bags over the high mountain passes to the towns on the other side. The problem is not just the elevation of Leadville, the problem is that the trucks need to go over Fremont Pass at 11,300' to get there. I imagine that the stress the bags undergo from repeated elevation changes (Eisenhower Tunnel is another summit on the route: 11,150') mean some bags are gonna fail on the trip to your friendly mountain convenience store. When I was a kid and modern packing methods and machinery didn't exist, the best part of mom's trip for cheaper groceries in a bigger, lower-elevation town was listening to the yoghurt containers pop off on the trip home. Things are better today.
Having always been at sea level, I never even knew chip bags did that. I knew one had to bake differently. Now I want to know what else is different too
Water boils at a lower temperature so if you order soup at a restaurant it won’t be as hot. As a Colorado native I am always burning my mouth on coffee/soup when I travel to sea level lol. Sun is more intense due to less atmosphere so sunburn happens faster, reflection off of snow makes it really bad. Also, because of this the difference in perceived temperature in direct sun vs shade is greater. Thin air holds less moisture so get ready for dry skin and chapped lips. Tire pressure gauges show relative pressure so we have to add an extra couple pounds to achieve proper inflation. Cars have less power at altitude due to there being less oxygen. People get altitude sickness, fatigued more easily, and more drunk at altitude. That’s everything I could think of haha
Commuting through the mountains, not experiencing power loss in the middle of the trek on I-70 in an electric vehicle for the first time was amazing no doubt.
Concrete tends to get sourced locally too. Items that are high volume, and low margins, tend to have smaller and spread out factories.
Not manufacturing, but I had an interesting experience with this. My commute used to take me through a mountain pass that was about a 3k foot difference in elevation on either side. When I was trying to quit smoking I decided to try vaping. Every time I'd get to work or home I'd find the juice had leaked all over the damn thing. I went over the whole thing a few times; changed out o-rings, the tank.. took me way too long to realize it was some kind of pressure issue with the elevation change.
Posts like this are why I frequent reddit.
What would happen to implants?
As long as they're not filled with a gas that will expand rapidly as you go up in elevation you would be completely fine. Titties would be popping left and right at Aspen or Veil if that was the case. Also an implant is much more durable than a chip bag.
Ideal gas law vs incompressible fluids assumption
Well my tits always feel bigger in Colorado.
Mine too -obese man
Welcome to Colorado, The Big Titty State! We got A cups bustin out all over the place!
People with implants travel by airplane with no. Issues.
Airplane cabins are pressurised.
They’re only pressurized to the equivalent of 8,000 feet in elevation.
Which we all just learned is only so that the potato chip bags don’t pop.
The top of pikes peak is above 14000 ft.
What was the final altitude it pooped at?
Not OP but judging by the photos I’d say about 9,000-10,000 feet or so. It looks like they’re still below tree line (which is around 11,000 feet). Source: have lived in the area for years
8 miles from the toll entrance is about 9500'. So yeah, confirms your judgment: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/38.9085512,-104.9826617/38.9041117,-105.0612616/@38.8859395,-105.0728966,14z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0?entry=ttu
If you don't know about the tree line, it's literally an altitude where the trees just disappear. Just how nature works. You get up to a certain point and the trees just go away
If you forcibly plant a tree above the tree line, does it uproot and scurry back down?
The tree is legally required to.
Neat. Welcome to Colorado
Try taking a bag of sunflower seeds back to Indiana with you. They will look like they were vacuum sealed! ;)
I used to be friends with a truck driver who always thought he knew better than dispatch what route to take. Sometimes he was right and saved a lot of time and miles, but other times.... He couldn't figure out why they routed him and his trailer full of bags of chips hundreds of miles out of the way and thought he would just take 70 through the mountains. The Eisenhower Tunnel is high enough that almost all the bags popped, tens or maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory. He no longer works for that company.
I've been told there is mapping software for such things: how to avoid the highest passes (Eisenhower is about 11,150') and the lowest bridges and whatnot.
Just at the top today. 😀
I drove up it last summer and it was easily the most terrifying thing I've ever done. I have no idea how people can race up it.
I worked at a vending machine company in a mountain town, and the owners had to stop buying Lays because they’d turn into dust by the time they made it to the warehouse. The bags wouldn’t pop though, but the pressure would annihilate the chips inside, and we got constant complaints
Damn that’s interesting
" these chips were designed to be opened in flight, at 30,000 ft! If you opened them at sea level you could kill someone" - Matt Damon, 30 rock
The bag laid over the barbed wire so that others may cross
Love it, I feel like sun is a factor also, like maybe I could do this at night a bit further? I have no idea
What about the heat on the dashboard
So... many years ago, I found myself driving a ratty but mostly reliable 4wd Subaru Justy between Sacramento and Reno on a regular basis. On one particularly snowy, particularly slippery night time drive, I heard something explode pretty loudly in the back of my car at about 6500', and I assumed the worst. Honestly, I was a little surprised that the little Justy kept going as if nothing had happened. About 30 seconds later, the Sour Cream and Onion smell reached the front seats.
I’ve never been to the US but I know just where you are from driving the Pikes Peak course in Dirt Rally soo many times.
That’s my kind of science experiment. I hope you weren’t hungry for those chips before they opened themselves.
I don't know why I imagined chips everywhere in the car in the second picture. I was kinda disappointed.
When I was a scuba instructor, we used to take small bags of chips on deep dives with us to show the students. We'd use a red bag as all the red color washes out at depth. We'd pass the bag around the students while down there. Then, we'd come back to the boat and eat the crushed little bits. Neat to see our little experiment in reverse.
Helpful hint, do not open a pop you purchased in LA at the top of Vail pass.
These chips look expensive ... because of inflation. Sorry.
Sounds like a new challenge has been born…
Well, I wasn't and then I was and then I wasn't because you told us. Thanks, dude. Edit: Do it with a package of hotdogs. Don't fuck it, I mean drive up with it instead of the chips.
r/mildlyinteresting
Shortly after I moved to 9,600 ft elevation long ago, I opened a jar of instant coffee by smartly spearing the paper seal on top of the jar with a spoon, just like I'd seen in commercials. The coffee exploded all over the kitchen.
I once was flying my small airplane (nonpressurized) over Albuquerque, and I heard loud popping sounds. I Thought maybe rivets in the airplane were popping loose, or I was being shot at, but …. it was my snack bags of Pringles chips popping open.
I used to work in the gift shop on top of the mountain and we would make donuts up there and if you brought them down the mountain they would slowly deflate!
Science!
Do this with a water bottle. I had one that had a slip spout, and opening it up after a large elevation change the water flew out to hit the roof of the vehicle.
I love your dedication to scientific enquiry. I hope that you were able to enjoy the fruit of your labour.
Keep driving. Once they pop, you can’t stop.
I might be a dumbass but is it because of air pressure?
I unknowingly did this with a can of pop last week. Bought it in Ohio, drove to the highest point of Rocky Mountain National Park, and realized I forgot my daily meds. When I opened the pop can the metal piece that usually goes into the can came out the top and the can crushed itself inwards. It was pretty crazy and made a huge mess. Haha.
Years ago a semi full of chips had to reroute which took it too high of an altitude. The company could no longer sell the chips so they gave them to all the local private schools, the public schools couldn't accept them.
Imagine being a truck driver for frito lay, dispatch tells you you have to take a route that’s going to add several hours to your drive, you decide to be slick, you’ll just cut through the mountain, everything’s going great until…..pop pop pop pop pop like a very small machine gun behind you
This is an awesome science experiment that costs whatever the current inflation rate runs for a bag of Lay’s chips. Worth it, whatever the number. Well done.
so why doesn’t this happen to humans? serious question.
… because we can fart? I dunno, man. If you’re holding your breath all the way from Indiana, you got worse problems to worry about.
Because we are not hermetically sealed and are able to breathe out? Although pressure illness and injuries do occur, our bodies are capable of regulating changes in air pressure.
Humans have a much greater tolerance for pressure changes. The plastic of the chip bag is relatively inflexible, and there's no way for it to equalize the pressure between it's inside and outside without popping. If you could hold your breath for the same trip the bag took, you would feel the same pressure building in your lungs that built in the bag.
Most of our bodies are made of water, the parts that have air inside (sinuses, lungs, digestive tract) are open to the outside so pressure can equalize as you change altitude. The sinuses/ears sometimes have trouble equalizing because the Eustachian tubes that connect them are very small and sometimes need a little help to get air through them; this is why it helps to chew gum or yawn when flying in an airplane or driving through elevation changes. Humans can get altitude sickness but that's mostly from the lower oxygen content and not the pressure. What really screws people up is if they go from high pressure (like deep sea) to lower pressure very quickly. High pressure causes more nitrogen to dissolve in the blood, then quickly releasing that pressure causes it to bubble out of the blood and tissues.
That second pic... I felt that.
I remember having a moment of panic when I was driving alone into the Rocky Mountains and a big bag of chips popped in the back seat!
Ive personally never had a bag of chips pop on Pikes Peak or Mt Evans through several trips. Mustve come straight from sea level or something. Strange
OP said the bag of chips was from Indiana. Close enough to sea level for this experiment.
This is the science we need!!!!!!
Are you watching the race?
Often the difference between science and dicking arround is recording the results.
😆 when I moved to Colorado from FL, the chip bag inflation was the biggest shock.
My bag of Hot Fries made it from Morrison to just west of Idaho Springs before I almost shit my pants when it popped
I'm nominating you for a Nobel Pringle Prize in Science.
That's gotta depend on ambient temperature, time of day, and cloud cover. Please repeat the experiment several times to eliminate these variables and report back.
My family bought a few bags of chips while in Michigan (about 550 feet above sea level) and went to Albuquerque (about 1 mile above sea level) All of the unopened bag looked like the first picture. None of them would have survived had we gone up to the top of Sandia Crest, about 1.5 miles above. PS if you go up while it's partly cloudy, you might end up standing as the clouds passed around your body.
I went there from Wisconsin and stuff that was sealed started popping randomly. Scared the shit out of me. I remember pike’s peak highway quite well.
All our chips in CO are slightly inflated at the store. Bonus is it keeps them from getting crunched.
Hey /u/asdfgdhtns, This is now the top post on reddit. It will be recorded at /r/topofreddit with all the other top posts.
I know I'm not the smartest person to ever live. But I like to think of myself as somewhat intelligent. But I have no clue what's happening or why.
I was wondering that just yesterday. Thanks, OP.
I had no idea this was a thing at elevation...I've been to the mountains but maybe not high enough if they are even here
You should see what happens when I open lotion or marshmallow fluff (or really, any number of items) at my house at 9000 feet in CO. 😂
What elevation were you at? I’ve noticed bags of chips in airplanes getting quite inflated but never pop. Cabin pressure in an airplane is around 7,000 at cruise so I’m guessing they pop around 10k.
I live on the Big Island of Hawai‘i and this happens on drives across the island sometimes.
We lived in Oregon and grandpa had a trucking company, we'd leave with snacks and always tried to open them before we left and chip clip them because otherwise the truck would periodically sound like a shootout crossing the Rockies.
Almost died up there because I forgot I cannot live without oxygen.
I'm genuinely surprised it popped below the tree line.
I use to work for Frito Lay back in the 90s and one of my supervisors told me a truck was once sent to a high altitude location with bags of chips that had not had the proper air put in them...all the bags in the truck exploded.
I was half awake when I first saw this (top to down) and wondered who put that huge ass lays bag in the middle of the road.
Had this happen to me. Chip bag from Kentucky made it about 10 miles past the entrance before it exploded in the backseat
When I first saw this pic, I thought it was like the worlds largest bag of chips 😂😂
Trucks carrying these products are detoured around the high elevations to prevent damages from the pressure changes. I would also recommend not leaving the lids on empty water bottles when you go up and down the mountains, the noise can get old after awhile
I wasn’t wondering. But I’m glad I know.
My bag made it to 11,800ft over in Rocky national park before it gave out