Does hot water really freeze faster than cold water?

Hotwaterwizard

Hotsy Service Tech
Dear Yahoo!:
Does hot water really freeze faster than cold water?
Grace Kinston, North Carolina

Dear Grace:
The phenomenon you describe is one of modern science's few remaining mysteries and the source of much debate in certain circles. Given the right set of conditions, hot or warm water can freeze faster than cooler water.
This strange phenomenon was described by the likes of Aristotle, Bacon, and Descartes, yet is named after the Tanzanian high-school student who demonstrated it in 1969. The Mpemba effect only occurs under very specific sets of conditions and is still not completely understood.

Though the effect has been reproduced successfully in a number of experiments, no one can say with certainty why it happens due to the great number of variables involved. However, it is generally believed some combination of factors, such as evaporation, convection, conduction, and supercooling, may account for the Mpemba effect.

You'll be glad to know that however mysterious the phenomenon is, the Mpemba effect is put to good use by many ice-cream makers, who use warm milk instead of cool to help their ice cream freeze more quickly.

You may also be interested to know that for such a seemingly simple substance, water is surprisingly complex, and its behavior is poorly understood. The Mpemba effect is just one of 38 anomalies of H2O.
 
And I was going to get a hot water p/w for the winter.:)
 
snow maker's on your fav. ski slope use warm water to make snow.
use the tap water from the first 5 sec of it running to fill an ice try and then let the water run for 3 min and fill another.
Then put them in the freezer to see which one freeze's faster?
 
From previously being an Ice Maint. Manager at a local ice rink, I know first hand that hot water freezes faster. We use 120 degree water in our Zamboni. I was told it was because Hot water has less oxygen in it. Also another reason ice rinks use hot water is because it will melt the top layer of ice that it is going onto and create a better bond. When we use cold water the ice chips easly.
 
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