# Those soak them in water and put them around your neck to keep cool things

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-soak-them-in-water-and-put-them-around-your-neck-to-keep-cool-things/31815>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 2, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-soak-them-in-water-and-put-them-around-your-neck-to-keep-cool-things/31815 "2000-09-02T22:52:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-soak-them-in-water-and-put-them-around-your-neck-to-keep-cool-things/31815/1 "2000-09-02T22:52:10Z")

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I bought one of them at a flea market last week and now I wonder what I have been wearing around my neck. Anyone know what the bead like things that hold the water are? The one I have is a cloth tube which swells up when wet to about the size of a quarter and is about 20"long and then some so you can tie it if you want.

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-soak-them-in-water-and-put-them-around-your-neck-to-keep-cool-things/31815/2 "2000-09-02T23:39:12Z")

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Most of them use silica gel. It’s commonly used as a dessicant - those little packs of things that soak up moisture from the air and have a “do not eat” label.