Defrosting Tray

In catalogs and cookware stores one can buy a “miracle” defrosting tray advertised as made of an “advanced, space-age super-conductive alloy” that “takes heat right out of the air.” How does this defrosting tray work?

Answer

The “miracle” defrosting tray is simply aluminum metal, and one could use a thick aluminum frying pan or other piece of aluminum or copper metal tray to do the thawing as quickly, as long as there is no coating on the metal. Nonstick pans have coatings that are poor heat conductors. Metals are the best heat conductors because they have about 10²³ conduction electrons per cubic centimeter available to transfer thermal energy from the hotter source to cooler regions. For thawing purposes, the metal tray will conduct thermal energy from the room air into the frozen food very efficiently.