There’s always a strange hack going viral, and some seem so extreme that you really wonder if they'll work. And we’ve covered a fair few at Tom’s Guide, from using a spatula to help you make your bed, to using weird ingredients to clean your faucets.
And right now, people are putting a kitchen essential on their windows, and it has nothing to do with aesthetics. So instead of using a metal spoon to eat your morning cereal or enjoy a delicious dessert, this shiny object is the answer behind defogging your windows and collecting condensation.
Free hack to reduce mold and mildew
The claim that has everyone wondering whether it will work is that placing a piece of flatware in the correct position pulls moisture from the air before it damages your windows and walls. Apart from defogging your windows, excess moisture can lead to mold and mildew, and damaged paintwork.
There’s no harm in trying this hack, because it won’t cost you a penny — all you need to do is open your cutlery drawer and grab a metal spoon.
What you need to do:
Take a metal spoon (stainless steel is best) and rest it on your window frame, pointing the handle toward the room, so that the concave part of the spoon extends past the glass toward the outside.
Explaining the science
Although this hack may seem bizarre, it is based on physics. When warm, moist indoor air hits the window pane, the water vapor condenses into liquid water. You’ll notice this process in your bathroom mirror, which becomes foggy after a shower, or in a kitchen window, which steams up when you're boiling or steaming food.
The water then trickles down your window, forming a puddle on the windowsill, feeding mold spores and lifting paint.
Why use a metal spoon? Metal conducts heat more quickly than glass, meaning the spoon cools faster and stays colder than the surrounding window pane. This causes the water vapor to condense on the metal first.
Gravity then carries the droplets along the angled bowl, dripping them outside rather than letting them run down the interior glass. In essence, the spoon captures the moisture that would otherwise pool elsewhere, causing damage.
I wouldn’t recommend using this spoon hack for major moisture problems within your home, such as leaky pipes, but where a small amount of moisture collects, it won’t harm to give this free hack a try.
