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Good question. While hot water does not freeze quicker than cold water in all cases, it's true more often than not from what I have heard,

it's basically a theory that as the difference between starting temp and finishing temp increases, the rate of cooling observed in the water will also increase correspondingly.

this is because when boiled, the water absorbs thermal energy (heat) and as we see in nature, when energy is placed in an environment with significantly less of that energy form, the cold air is "thermophilic" meaning the energy in the hot water is attracted out of the hot water, into the cold atmosphere, until equilibrium is met (or in the case of a freezer that is adjustable through a thermostat, the water wouldn't stop cooling until it reaches the temperature on the thermostat)

The fundamentals of what happens is similar to how coil magnets work when varied levels of electric energy are applied. A heavier electric current causes a stronger magnetic pull in a similar way that a greater difference between freezing and boiling causes a stronger thermal energy transfer from the water into its surrounding atmosphere. Just like with magnets, if the magnets are too weak, or if the water you are freezing does not have a large difference in temperature from what temp it is starting at, it is possible that there may not be enough energy here to even trigger a reaction at all. Like when magnets are a certain distance away, they don't pull one another anymore.... when the difference in temperature between the liquid and the air around it goes below a certain point, think room temperature, you see nothing more than a very slow trickle of that thermal energy out of the water, if you see the water cool at all. The water at cooler temperatures has been "charged" with less thermal energy and also not heated warm enough to produce steam, thus cannot initialize a rapid, stemy transfer of heat that you would see with hotter water.

one little experiment you could do at home if you choose to try this one for yourself and want a further understanding of how heat equilibrium works, compare the difference in time it takes between a) make boiling water freeze vs b) make boiling water reach room temperature, also measuring room temperature before boiling water is added and room temperature after temp has equilibrated, and c) try experiment b in the refrigerator, checking to see how much warmer the fridge gets when you put something hot in it, also noting how long it takes for the water to stop yielding heat to its surroundings.

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13y ago

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