My daughter tells me that hot water freezes faster than cold water. This cannot be! I’ve heard the idea before, but I’ve never researched it. Why would I? It doesn’t make any sense, so therefore, I used to refute the claim that hot water freezes faster than cold water.
But it does. Hot water freezes faster than cold water. It’s true!
Scientists disagree about why, but the most respected opinion (according to my non-scientific and novice kind of research) is because of convection. There’s more movement. In other words, in hotter water, convection currents spread the ice crystals around faster and therefore allow for faster freezing.
Who knew?
I no longer look at my daughter like she’s crazy when she tells me to spread a tarp in the backyard and pour hot water on it to make her an ice skating rink faster.