The 5 Minute Instant Hand Warmer!

Everybody has seen them, the instant hand warmers sold during the winter months for insane prices. However In this instructable Im going to show you an easy way to make an instant handwarmer with things that you proably have liying around your house!

Its a little odd for me to be posting this in the middle of summer, but in hopes of another stay warm contest I would like to see your feed back to help improve this instructable.

EDIT: BE SAFE
please avoid direct skin contact with the solution! I am by no means a chemist, I do not know how safe this reaction actually is.  I've heard several people say several different things.  Some people claim this produces hydrochloric acid, but I never got burned from touching it.  Whatever is actually happening doesn't matter, please be safe and do not touch the solution or inhale the fumes! Thank you!
EDIT: Published in Popular Science! :D 
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-02/5-minute-project-hand-warmers

There are only 4 things needed to make the handwarmer, all of them are very easy to aquire, if you dont already have them.
*one large ziploc bag
*one smaller ziploc bag
*some calcium chloride ice melter pellets
*Water

Thats it!


really it is!

Simply, fill the larger bag with calcium chloride until there is about 1 1/2 inches of it from the bottom. Try not to overfill the bag because it actually could melt through the bottom.

Take the smaller bag and fill it about halfway with water, make sure to squeeze out any excess air as this bag will have to be burst in order to activate the hand warmer. Make sure the bag is sealed well to prevent the warmer from activating prematurely.

Put the smaller bag full of water into the larger bag full of calcium chloride, squeeze out the excess air, and there you have it a cheap and verry useful instant hand warmer!

The hand warmer is now prepped and ready to be activated, in order to activate the hand warmer, squeeze the smaller bag until it breaks, when the water combines with the calcium chloride it it causes a chemical reaction. A byproduct of this reaction is heat and some gas (I don't know what kind)

Tips:
*keep all the pellets at the bottom
*put the water bag in with the seal facing down towards the pellets
*seal the bags verry well, you could even glue them shut for a better seal

Tell me what you think!
*leave a comment! PM me!

EDIT: 8/7/09 Fockers sugested an easier way to pop the inner bag without breaking the outer bag, quote: To pop the small bag, just rub the seal and it should slide itself open