• Question: why does hot water freeze quicker than cold water

    Asked by bradleyf13 to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I think this is because hot water cools down much faster – because hot water has faster rates of evaporation which helps carry away the extra heat more quickly than cold water.

      Weird huh?

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Not always! It can happen though, yes. Dave already gave one of the reasons why: the warmer water may partially evaporate in the process, decreasing its volume and loosing extra heat.
      I looked for other reasons and apparently there is still a lot of discussion on why exactly this happens. It seems to be a combination of effects besides evaporation, such as hot water being able to cool down faster because it has less gases dissolved in it.

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