How does water freeze

12 August 2012 16:34

Water is an unique substance that consists of many unusual properties. The two elements making up water are Hydrogen and Oxygen. There are two Hydrogen atoms per Oxygen atom. Hence the Molecular Formula of water is H2O. This makes water a polar compound and soluble with many substances. As hydrogen and oxygen are both non-metals, covalent bonding is used to form the compound. In covalent bonding the more electronegative (ability to attract electrons) atom has a slightly negative charge and the less electronegative is slightly positively charged. Polar molecules are attracted to one another by dipole interaction. Hydrogen has an electronegativity of 2.1 and Oxygen is 3.5. Therefore the difference in electronegativity is 1.4. The negative end of one molecule of water is attracted to the positive end of another. This results in hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding occurs when the hydrogen bonds with a highly electronegative element e.g. O, F, N. The Hydrogen (slightly positive charge) is attracted to the lone pair of electrons in the nearby atom of Oxygen (the highly electronegative element). This Hydrogen bond has about 5% of the strength of a standard covalent bond. Hydrogen bonds are the strongest of all intermolecular forces. Hydrogen bonding in water is the only reason why it has such a high specific heat. Specific heat can be defined as the amount of heat required to change a unit mass ( such as a mole) of a substance by one degree in temperature. Hydrogen bonding weakens as the temperature rises, therefore much of the energy is used into breaking hydrogen bonds instead of raising the temperature. This causes water to have a higher heat capacity, In fact it is the second highest among all the heteroatomic species (after ammonia). According to Josh Willis, ofNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the oceans absorb one thousand times more heat than the atmosphere (air) and are holding 80 to 90% of the heat of global warming.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Properties_of_water#Heat_capacity_and_heats_of_vaporization_and_fusion>

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Properties_of_water#Heat_capacity_and_heats_of_vaporization_and_fusion>

Pasted from <http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jul2000/963870691.Ch.r.html>

Pasted from <http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/SpecificHeat.html>

Ice is water frozen into the solid state. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions. The addition of other materials such as soil may

further alter the appearance. The molecules in solid ice may be arranged in different ways, called phases, depending on the temperature and pressure. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the
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temperature and pressure. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. The most common phase transition to ice Ih occurs when liquid water is cooled below 0C (273.15K, 32F) at standard atmospheric pressure. It can also deposit from vapour with no intervening liquid phase, such as in the formation of frost. As a naturally occurring crystalline inorganic solid with an ordered structure, ice is considered a mineral.[1] It possesses a regular crystalline structure based on the molecule of water, which consists of a single oxygen atom covalently bonded to two hydrogen atoms, or H-O-H. However, many of the physical properties of water and ice are controlled by the formation of hydrogen bonds between adjacent oxygen and hydrogen atoms. It is a weak bond, but is critical in controlling the structure of both water and ice.
An unusual property of ice frozen at atmospheric pressure is that the solid is approximately 8.3% less dense than liquid water. The density of ice is 0.9167 g/cm at 0 C, whereas water has a density of 0.9998 g/cm at the same temperature. Liquid water is densest, essentially 1.00 g/cm, at 4 C and becomes less dense as the water molecules begin to form the hexagonal crystals[2] of ice as the freezing point is reached. This is due to hydrogen bonding dominating the intermolecular forces, which results in a packing of molecules less compact in the solid. Density of ice increases slightly with decreasing temperature and has a value of 0.9340 g/cm at 180 C (93 K).[3]
The effect of expansion during freezing can be dramatic, and is a basic cause of freeze-thaw weathering of rock in nature. It is also a common cause of the flooding of houses when water pipes burst due to the pressure of expanding water when it freezes, then leak water after thawing.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice>

Any substance can exist in three different physical forms; solid, liquid and gas. Water is the only substance on earth that naturally occurs in all three states. Temperature reflects the amount of kinetic energy of molecules or more simply, the motion of the molecules. The faster the molecules are moving the higher their temperature. This is similar to how the faster you move, the hotter you get! When moving, the hydrogen bonds between the molecules of water can break. The water molecules in the liquid phase can move so fast that they break their hydrogen bonds and go from a liquid to a gas phase. If temperatures get hot enough, the molecules all move fast enough to break their hydrogen bonds and move into the gas phase. We see this happening when water boils! When liquid cools the molecules have less kinetic energy, slowing down and packing closer together. Volume is decreasing without mass changing so the water gets more dense. As seawater gets more dense, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. This sinking of cold water at the poles creates global circulation of seawater.

Credit NASA

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Credit NASA As water continues to cool the hydrogen bonds form and hold the water molecules in place as a solid. This solid form of water is ice. Ever notice that ice cubes float in your drink? That is because fresh water gets denser as it cools until it reaches about 4C, (39F). Below that temperature ice gets less dense as it cools. This happens because water expands as it freezes. If you have ever made ice cubes you have seen this happen. Since the mass remains the same, but the volume of the solid is greater, ice is less dense than liquid water ~ so it floats! Because of this, bodies of water such as lakes and bays freeze at the surface. This property allows fish living in lakes and ponds to survive the winter. The ice that freezes on the surface insulates the water below so it stays warmer! In general, it is extremely unusual for the solid phase of a substance to be less dense than its liquid phase, but lucky for aquatic life it is! Pasted from <http://new.coolclassroom.org/discoveries/view/water>

Changes of Phase (or State)

Heat and Temperature Energy Mechanics Contents Index Home The term 'change of phase' means the same thing as the term 'change of state'. There are four states, or phases, of matter. They are: Solid Liquid Gas Plasma We will not be discussing the plasma state here. When a substance changes from one state, or phase, of matter to another we say that it has undergone a change of state, or we say that it has undergone a change of phase. These changes of phase always occur with a change of heat. Heat, which is energy, either comes into the material during a change of phase or heat comes out of the material during this change. However, although the heat content of the material changes, the temperature does not. Here are the five changes of phase. They are diagrammed in the above animation and listed below. Description of Term for Phase Heat Movement Temperature Phase Change Change During Phase Change During Change Phase Change

Solid to liquid
Liquid to solid Liquid to gas

Melting
Freezing Vaporization, which includes boiling and evaporation Condensation Sublimation

Heat goes into the solid as it melts.

Heat leaves the liquid as it freezes. Heat goes into the liquid as it vaporizes.

None
None None

Gas to liquid Solid to gas

Heat leaves the gas None as it condenses.

Heat goes into the None solid as it sublimates. So, how could there be a change in heat during a state change without a change in temperature? During a change in state the heat energy is used to change the bonding between the molecules. In the case of melting, added energy is used to break the bonds
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between the molecules. In the case of melting, added energy is used to break the bonds between the molecules. In the case of freezing, energy is subtracted as the molecules bond to one another. These energy exchanges are not changes in kinetic energy. They are changes in bonding energy between the molecules. If heat is coming into a substance during a phase change, then this energy is used to break the bonds between the molecules of the substance. The example we will use here is ice melting into water. Immediately after the molecular bonds in the ice are broken the molecules are moving at the same average speed as before, so their average kinetic energy remains the same, and, thus, their Kelvin temperature remains the same. Look at the following diagram and continue to read the text below it. The molecule of ice and the molecule of water (the black balls) are moving with the same rate of vibration in this diagram. This is meant to show that they have the same average speed and thus the same average kinetic energy (since they have the same mass) and thus the same Kelvin temperature. The motions are, though, greatly exagerated. Actually, the motions of the molecules should be considered tiny vibrations. In the ice the molecules are strongly bonded to one another, thus forming a rigid solid. When heat is added to the ice it melts, and these bonds are broken, The molecules afterward bond to one another with less strength, and water is formed. Now, before the melting, the molecules were actually moving when in the solid state. They were vibrating back and forth. They had an average kinetic energy. So they had a Kelvin temperature proportional to this average kinetic energy. After the melting the water molecules are moving, also. And they have the same average kinetic energy as they had before the melting. So, the water is at the same temperature the moment after the melting that the ice was at the moment before the melting. Heat came into the situation, but it was not used to change the kinetic energy of the molecules. It was used to change the bonding between the molecules. Breaking the bonds between the molecules of the ice requires energy, and this energy is the added heat. In a similar way heat enters a liquid to change the molecular bonding when the liquid boils or evaporates into a gas, and heat enters a solid to change the molecular bonding when it sublimates into a gas. In an inverse way heat leaves a gas to change the molecular bonding when the gas condenses into a liquid, and heat leaves a liquid to change the molecular bonding when it freezes into a solid. In none of these changes of state is the heat (energy) that is input or output used to change the speed of the molecules. The average speed of the molecules is the same before and after a phase change, and so is the average kinetic energy. And so, again, note that the temperature does not change during a change in phase, since it is proportional, in Kelvin degrees, to the average kinetic energy, which does not change. Heat and Temperature Energy Mechanics Contents Index Home
Pasted from <http://zonalandeducation.com/mstm/physics/mechanics/energy/heatAndTemperature/changesOfPhase/changeOfState.html >

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Factors that effect the rate at freezing

13 August 2012 18:20

The rate at which ice is formed, is directly proportional to the temperature gradient applied to the system. Thermodynamically the environment is in a state of lower entropy than the water and the water dissipates entropy through collisions at its boundary. The bump represents the energy released as the water goes to a lower enthalpy state, or a lower internal energy state. This rate is also depended on other factors such as the methods of heat transfers, that can change the rate of freezing. Water in freezer is cooled by four main ways in standard atmospheric pressure. These are: Convection Conduction Evaporation Radiation

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Hypothesis 1
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Hot Water will freeze faster than cold water

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Hypothesis 2
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Convection effects the rate at which water freezes

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Hypothesis 3
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Conduction also effects at the rate of freezing

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Hypothesis 4
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Evaporation effects the freezing of the water

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Conduction
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Conduction
Much of the cooling is done by conduction. Container The container is is direct contact with some cold material, such as the freezer shelf. The container gets cold and also cools the water by conduction. Metal is a good conductor, so a metal pail would speed up cooling the water by conduction. On the other hand, wood is a poor conductor of heat. A wooden pail would require other heat transfer methods to cool the water. Air Cold air is in contact with both the container and the water. The water transfers heat to the cooler air by means of conduction, thus lowering the temperature of the water. Pasted from <http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpembaeffec.php>

Conduction Fouriers Law of Conduction

Screen clipping taken: 15-08-2012 15:17

Good conduction and good contact

One theory is that frost on a container can slow down the cooling process. If hot water is placed in the freezer in a small container that is a good conductor of heat (or cold), the warmth of the container can melt any frost that collects on its surface. This includes the ice on the bottom surface. When this ice refreezes, it creates a good connection between the container and the surface, allowing much better conduction of cold than a container of cold water that has frost on its surface, including its bottom. As a result, heat is drawn out of the warmer container more rapidly than the one with cold water in it.
Pasted from <http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpembaeffec.php>

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Poor conduction and evaporation

If the container is made of something like wood, which is a poor conductor of heat (or cold), then a great part of the cooling will be caused by evaporation instead of conduction. This could be an important factor in explaining how hot water freezes faster than cold. For example, Mpemba used wooden buckets when he was making his ice cream and noticed the phenomenon. Pasted from <http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpembaeffec.php> Conduction is

heat transfer by direct molecular interactions, without mass movement of matter. For example, when you pour hot water into a cup, the cup soon feels warm. The water molecules colliding with the inside surface of the cup transfer energy to the cup, warming it up.
Pasted from <http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Phys_p032.shtml>

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Convection
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Convection

Convection is the transfer of energy through the movement of currents of a gas or liquid. You can see this motion when heating a pot of water on a stove. Different densities cause water convection Since cold water is more dense than warm water, it will sink to the bottom of the container, causing some convection currents during the freezing process. When the temperature of the water gets below 39oF or 4oC, it becomes less dense and will float to the top until the water finally freezes. Slowing freezing In some situations when water is moving, it can actually increase the time it takes to freeze as compared with still water. For example, ducks often paddle around in a pond in the winter to keep it from freezing over.
Pasted from < http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpemba-effec.php>

Convection and insulating surface

Just as a layer of frost on the surface of a container can slow down the conduction of heat from the water, a layer of ice on the upper surface of the water can insulate the water from the from the colder air currents. Since water becomes less dense between 37oF and 32oF (3oC and 0oC), it will float to the top and then finally freeze. This thin layer of ice will then act as an insulator protecting the water below from freezing rapidly and will slow down the freezing process of cold water. In the case of warm water, the convection currents will cause that ice to melt, allowing the water to cool more rapidly.
Pasted from <http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpemba-effec.php>

Convection is heat transfer by mass movement. You've probably heard the saying that "hot air rises." This happens because it is less dense than colder air. As the hot air rises, it creates currents of air flow. These circulating currents serve to transfer heat, and are an example of convection.
Pasted from < http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Phys_p032.shtml>

Screen clipping taken: 15-08-2012 15:17

Convection
It has also been proposed that the Mpemba effect can be explained by the fact that the temperature of the water becomes non-uniform. As the water cools, temperature gradients and convection currents will develop. For most temperatures, the density of water decreases as the temperature increases. So over time, as water cools we will develop a "hot top" the surface of the water will be warmer than the average temperature of the water, or the water at the bottom of the

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surface of the water will be warmer than the average temperature of the water, or the water at the bottom of the container. If the water loses heat primarily through the surface, then this means that the water should lose heat faster than one would expect based just on looking at the average temperature of the water. And for a given average temperature, the heat loss should be greater the more inhomogenous the temperature distribution is (that is, the greater the range of the temperatures seen as we go from the top to the bottom). How does this explain the Mpemba effect? Well, the initially hot water will cool rapidly, and quickly develop convection currents and so the temperature of the water will vary greatly from the top of the water to the bottom. On the other hand, the initially cool water will have a slower rate of cooling, and will thus be slower to develop significant convection currents. Thus, if we compare the initially hot water and initially cold water at the same average temperature, it seems reasonable to believe that the initially hot water will have greater convection currents, and thus have a faster rate of cooling. To consider a concrete example, suppose that the initially hot water starts at 70C, and the initially cold water starts at 30C. When the initially cold water is at an average 30C, it is also a uniform 30C. However, when the initially hot water reaches an average 30C, the surface of the water is probably much warmer than 30C, and it will thus lose heat faster than the initially cold water for the same average temperature. Got that? This explanation is pretty confusing, so you might want to go back and read the last two paragraphs again, paying careful attention to the difference between initial temperature, average temperature, and surface temperature.
At any rate, if the above argument is right, then when we plot the average temperature versus time for both the initially hot and initially cold water, then for some average temperatures the initially hot water will be cooling faster than the initially cold water. So the cooling curve of the initially hot water will not simply reproduce the cooling curve of the initially cold water, but will drop faster when in the same temperature range.

Pasted from <http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/hot_water.html>

Types of convection

Natural Convection Gravitational Convection

Forced Convection Granular Convection Thermo magnetic convection.

Natural Convection or Free Convection

Occurs due to temperature differences affecting density resulting in buoyancy (more or less dense) This leads to bulk fluid movement. More rapid movement between two fluids of large density differences. Larger acceleration occurs through greater mediums

Gravitational
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Gravitational Convection
Induced by buoyancy variations resulting from material properties other than temperature.
Variable salinity in water is a frequent cause of ocean convection.

Dependant on the effects of gravity and does not occur in micro gravity environments

http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/physics/fluids/node10.html

http://www.bakker.org/dartmouth06/engs150/13-heat.pdf

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Evaporation
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Evaporation
When a liquid evaporates, the higher energy molecules leave the lower energy molecules behind, resulting in lowering the temperature of the material. You can experience that by spreading some water on your skin and blowing across it to enhance evaporation. there is more evaporation from hot water than from cold. Pasted from <http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpembaeffec.php>

Evaporation
It is thought that evaporation is one factor that allows warm water to freeze faster than cold water. There is more evaporation from warm or hot water than from cold water. Thus the evaporation not only carries off some of the water, resulting in slightly less water to freeze in the warm water container, but it also causes the temperature of the warm container to drop due to heat lost. Pasted from <http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpembaeffec.php> Evaporation is

another method of heat transfer. When molecules of a liquid vaporize, they escape from the liquid into the atmosphere. This transition requires energy, since a molecule in the vapor phase has more energy than a molecule in the liquid phase. Thus, as molecules evaporate from a liquid, they take away energy from the liquid, cooling it.
Pasted from <http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Phys_p032.shtml>

Evaporation
One explanation of the effect is that as the hot water cools, it loses mass to evaporation. With less mass, the liquid has to lose less heat to cool, and so it cools faster. With this explanation, the hot water freezes first, but only because there's less of it to freeze. Calculations done by Kell in 1969 [11] showed that if the water cooled solely by evaporation, and maintained a uniform temperature, the warmer water would freeze before the cooler water. This explanation is solid, intuitive, and undoubtedly contributes to the Mpemba effect in most physical situations. However, many people have incorrectly assumed that it is therefore "the" explanation for the Mpemba effect. That is, they assume that the only reason hot water can freeze faster than cold is because of evaporation, and that all experimental results can be explained by the calculations in Kell's article. However, the experiments currently do not bear out this belief. While experiments show evaporation to be important [13], they do not show that it is the only mechanism behind the Mpemba effect. A number of experimenters have argued that evaporation alone is insufficient to explain their results [5,9,12]; in particular, the original experiment by Mpemba and Osborne measured the mass lost to evaporation, and found it substantially less that the amount predicted by Kell's calculations [5,9]. And most convincingly, an experiment by Wojciechowski observed the Mpemba effect in a closed container, where no mass was lost to evaporation.
Pasted from <http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/hot_water.html#Evaporation>

Evaporation As the initially warmer water cools to the initial temperature of the initially cooler water, it may lose significant amounts of water to evaporation. The reduced mass will
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cooler water, it may lose significant amounts of water to evaporation. The reduced mass will make it easier for the water to cool and freeze. Then the initially warmer water can freeze before the initially cooler water, but will make less ice. Theoretical calculations have shown that evaporation can explain the Mpemba effect if you assume that the water loses heat solely through evaporation [11]. This explanation is solid, intuitive, and evaporation is undoubtedly important in most situations. However, it is not the only mechanism. Evaporation cannot explain experiments that were done in closed containers, where no mass was lost to evaporation [12]. And many scientists have claimed that evaporation alone is insufficient to explain their results [5,9,12].
Pasted from <http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/hot_water.html#Evaporation>

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Radiation
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Screen clipping taken: 21-08-2012 22:15 Screen clipping taken: 21-08-2012 22:17 Screen clipping taken: 21-08-2012 22:13

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Newton's Law of Cooling

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13 August 2012 18:19

FREEZING RATE OF WATER

VARIABLES
INDEPENDENT
Initial Temperature (oC) - 25 - 50 - 75 - 100 Surface Area - Cup - Bowl - Plate Container Material - Plastic - Styrofoam - Stainless Steel

DEPENDENT
Freezing rate of water

CONTROLLED
Refrigerator type Volume of water 100mL

AIM To investigate the effect of the initial temperature, surface area and container
material type on the freezing rate of water in a refrigerator

MATERIALS

1 Refrigerator 1 Bunsen Burner 1 Tripod 1 Gauze Mat 1 Pair of Tongs 3 Measuring Cylinders (100 mL) 1 Glass Beaker (500 mL) 1 Thermometer 1 Gram Scales 1 Plastic Cups 1 Stainless Steel Cup 1 Styrofoam Cup 1 Plastic Bowl
Materials and method Page 19

1 Stainless Steel Cup 1 Styrofoam Cup 1 Plastic Plate 1 Stainless Steel Plate 1 Styrofoam Plate

METHOD
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

The apparatus was set up as shown in diagram 1. 500 mL of tap water was poured into the glass beaker. Using a Bunsen burner, the water in the glass beaker was heated to 100 oC. The heated water was carefully and accurately poured into the three (3) 100 mL measuring cylinders. The measured volumes of water were placed into three (3) different material cups plastic, stainless steel and Styrofoam. Making sure that no large amounts of heat was lost, each cup containing the liquid was weighed and the results were recorded. The cups were placed inside the freezer. At the same time, three (3) temperature probes were connected and placed, along with the cups, inside the freezer as shown in diagram 2. Three (3) hours after placing into the fridge, the cups were taken out and the temperature probe recordings were noted and transferred onto the computer. Each cup was weighed and the results were recorded. The process in steps 1-8 was repeated using different material bowls and plates. The process in steps 1-9 was repeated using different initial water temperatures such as 75 oC, 50 oC and 25 oC.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

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New
19 August 2012 17:31

METHODS
PREPARATION
Materials:

1 Roll of Sticky Tape 1 Roll of Aluminium Foil 2 Plastic Cups 2 Styrofoam Cups 2 Stainless Steel Cups 6 Plastic Temperature Probes

Procedure:
1. Three (3) different material cups were wrapped once in aluminium foil using sticky tape as

shown in diagram ___ NOTE: The use of sticky tape was kept to a minimum as sticky tape is made of plastic. Therefore, an overuse would alter the heat transfer rate as plastic acts as an insulator 2. Using sticky tape, one plastic temperature probe was attached to each cup. They were placed so that they were positioned in the centre of the volume of water

WATER AT 85 oC
Materials:

1 Plastic Cup. 1 Plastic Cup with Al. Foil 1 Styrofoam Cup 1 Styrofoam Cup with Al. Foil 1 Stainless Steel Cup 1 Stainless Steel Cup with Al. Foil 1 Freezer 1 Data Logger 1 Kettle 1 Half Cup (125 mL) Measuring Cup 1 Gram Scale

Procedure:
1. The apparatus was set up as shown in diagram __ 2. Using a kettle an approximated amount of water (from the tap) was boiled 3. The boiling water was measured accurately to 125 mL (half a cup) using a measuring cup
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The boiling water was measured accurately to 125 mL (half a cup) using a measuring cup The measured amount of water was then transferred into the styrofoam cup The mass of the cup containing the water was weighed and the results were recorded The process in steps 3-5 was repeated for the styrofoam cup with aluminium foil Two probes (one from each cup) were connected to the data logger Both cups were placed in the freezer Using a data logger, the temperature drop in both cups was recorded over a time length of five (5) hours 10. After five (5) hours, the cups were weighed and the results were recorded 11. The process in steps 2-10 was repeated using plastic and stainless steel cups
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

WATER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

Materials:

1 Plastic Cup. 1 Plastic Cup with Al. Foil 1 Styrofoam Cup 1 Styrofoam Cup with Al. Foil 1 Stainless Steel Cup 1 Stainless Steel Cup with Al. Foil 1 Freezer 1 Data Logger 1 Half Cup (125 mL) Measuring Cup 1 Gram Scale

Procedure:
The apparatus was set up as shown in diagram __ 125 mL of water (from the tap) was measured and poured into each styrofoam cup The weight of the cups was measured individually and the results were recorded Both cups were placed in the freezer Using a data logger, the temperature drop in both cups was recorded over a time length of five (5) hours 6. After five (5) hours, the cups were weighed and the results were recorded 7. The process in steps 2-6 was repeated using plastic and stainless steel cups
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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Experiment 1
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RESULTS

AVERAGE RESULTS
TIME (mins) PLASTIC CUP (oC) PLASTIC CUP + Aluminium Foil (oC) 85 oC Room. 85 oC STYROFO AM CUP (oC) STYROFOAM CUP + Aluminium Foil (oC) 85 oC Room. 85 oC STAINLESS STEEL CUP (oC) STAINLESS STEEL CUP + Aluminium Foil (oC) 85 oC Room. 85 oC

Room. 0
3

Room.

Room.

17.31 14.42

85.87 71.51

17.67 16.71

85.13 72.10

17.28 16.81

85.91 73.35

17.23 16.78

85.94 71.92

17.83 16.94

85.02 61.53

17.97 15.51

85.56 66.42

6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48
51

12.78 8.18 5.81 3.18 2.55 1.32 0.36 0.34 0.31 0.31 0.30
0.30 0.29 0.30 0.29 0.29

62.97 54.62 47.76 41.91 36.74 32.22 28.43 25.49 22.96 20.74 18.70
16.85 15.21 13.56 11.72 9.83

14.95 13.46 12.11 10.99 9.91 9.01 8.22 7.25 6.01 4.75 3.60
3.32 2.21 1.17 0.71 0.49

62.55 55.29 49.30 44.27 39.94 36.18 32.86 28.51 24.32 20.42 16.86
13.58 10.57 7.92 3.95 3.21

14.37 12.83 10.02 8.66 7.35 6.09 4.86 3.35 2.96 2.70 2.21
1.72 1.27 1.87 1.50 1.81

63.42 55.63 49.02 43.57 38.96 34.97 31.47 28.54 26.16 23.85 22.03
20.19 18.54 16.78 14.97 13.31

15.84 14.92 13.97 13.26 12.46 11.79 11.07 10.28 9.37 8.36 7.32
6.30 5.42 4.67 2.69 1.73

64.49 57.40 51.46 46.78 42.74 39.33 36.30 33.20 29.98 26.78 24.12
21.29 19.02 16.69 14.63 12.68

15.61 14.60 13.27 12.06 10.93 9.84 8.46 6.13 5.36 4.57 3.01
1.84 1.12 0.75 0.48 0.44

54.18 45.68 38.18 33.15 29.60 26.32 24.25 22.06 20.26 18.28 16.81
14.98 13.66 10.43 7.75 5.82

14.79 14.32 12.96 11.68 10.44 9.40 7.62 6.05 3.96 2.32 1.10
0.51 0.40 0.34 0.30 0.28

55.00 46.42 39.10 32.65 29.12 25.52 23.06 20.85 18.67 16.81 15.39
13.92 12.53 9.99 7.98 5.88

54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 78 81 84 87 90 93
96

0.29 0.28 0.28 0.27 0.27 0.26 0.26 0.25 0.24 0.24
0.25 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.23

7.98 6.29 4.67 3.25 1.53 0.56 0.20 0.18 0.20 0.18
0.17 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16

0.38 0.27 0.25 0.19 0.21 0.20 0.18 0.17 0.16 0.19
0.18 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17

3.55 3.17 2.20 1.31 0.51 0.24 0.08 0.15 0.16 0.17
0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16

1.13 0.91 0.92 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.73 0.73 0.67
0.63 0.64 0.57 0.44 0.43

11.49 9.82 8.17 6.67 5.14 3.25 2.66 1.90 1.06 0.41
-0.01 0.07 0.20 0.21 0.22

1.18 0.89 0.63 0.45 0.38 0.35 0.34 0.33 0.33 0.33
0.32 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31

10.75 9.13 7.41 6.00 4.78 3.99 3.31 2.41 1.99 0.95
0.51 0.33 0.23 0.19 0.18

0.39 0.35 0.32 0.31 0.30 0.29 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28
0.28 0.28 0.29 0.29 0.29

3.22 0.95 -0.75 -1.63 -2.00 -1.09 -1.03 -0.90 -0.87 -0.81
-0.87 -0.71 -0.74 -0.68 -0.63

0.27 0.26 0.26 0.25 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.23 0.24 0.24
0.23 0.24 0.25 0.25 0.25

3.75 1.55 0.35 0.01 -0.11 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.05 0.05
0.06 0.06 0.05 0.04 0.05

Results Page 23

96
99

0.23 0.30

0.16 0.16

0.17 0.17

0.16 0.15

0.43 0.34

0.22 0.22

0.31 0.31

0.18 0.17

0.29 0.29

-0.63 -0.63

0.25 0.25

0.05 0.06

102 105 108 111 114 117 120 123 126 129 132 135 138 141
144

0.25 0.24 0.21 0.18 0.15 0.11 0.07 0.03 0.00 0.00 -0.02
0.06 0.03 0.02 0.01

0.16 0.16 0.16 0.15 0.15 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16
0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16

0.16 0.15 0.16 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14
0.14 0.15 0.14 0.14

0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.17 0.16 0.16
0.14 0.13 0.11 0.07

0.34 0.34 0.33 0.29 0.28 0.23 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20
0.22 0.21 0.21 0.21

0.22 0.22 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.18
0.18 0.19 0.19 0.19

0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31
0.31 0.31 0.31 0.30

0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17
0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17

0.29 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.26
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25

-0.50 -0.38 -0.09 0.13 0.20 0.34 0.01 -0.22 -0.82 -1.44 -1.86
-2.19 -2.57 -2.68 -2.79

0.25 0.25 0.24 0.23 0.22 0.22 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20
0.20 0.20 0.22 0.22

0.09 0.16 0.23 0.30 0.32 0.33 0.31 0.27 0.07 -0.43 -0.68
-0.89 -1.17 -1.44 -1.72

147 150 153 156 159 162 165 168 171 174 177 180 183 186 189
192

0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.10 -0.25 -0.36 -0.50 -0.64 -0.78 -0.92 -1.02
-0.85 -0.51 -0.56 -0.62 -0.67

0.16 0.15 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.15 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.12
0.10 0.09 0.07 0.05 0.05

0.14 0.13 0.12 0.11 0.10 0.09 0.07 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.02
0.01 0.01 0.00 -0.02 -0.02

0.01 -0.07 -0.09 -0.11 -0.13 -0.16 -0.19 -0.23 -0.25 -0.11 -0.19
-0.23 -0.28 -0.33 -0.52 -0.76

0.21 0.20 0.21 0.19 0.18 0.17 0.17 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.13
0.16 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16

0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.18 0.16 0.14 0.13 0.11 0.09
0.06 0.02 -0.02 0.01 0.03

0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.31
0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.29

0.17 0.16 0.16 0.15 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.13 0.14 0.14 0.14
0.14 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13

0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.24 0.24
0.22 0.22 0.20 0.20 0.20

-2.86 -3.11 -3.31 -3.46 -3.62 -2.46 -1.98 -1.78 -1.62 -1.52 -1.45
-1.77 -2.70 -3.15 -3.53 -3.11

0.22 0.22 0.22 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.17
0.15 0.13 0.12 0.15 0.17

-1.61 -2.41 -2.35 -2.57 -2.80 -1.48 -1.19 -1.02 -0.95 -0.87 -0.78
-1.35 -2.28 -2.91 -3.23 -3.53

195 198 201 204 207 210 213 216 219 222 225 228

-0.71 -0.57 -0.73 -0.34 -1.05 -1.61 -1.92 -2.59 -3.07 -3.55 -4.32
-4.67

0.03 0.02 -0.01 -0.03 -0.02 -0.09 -0.10 -0.12 -0.25 -0.42 -0.49
-0.72

-0.03 -0.04 -0.06 -0.13 -0.20 -0.27 -0.33 -0.39 -0.48 -0.58 -0.58
-0.57

-0.97 -1.16 -1.38 -1.62 -1.64 -1.52 -1.45 -1.48 -1.52 -1.53 -1.58
-1.62

0.16 0.16 0.16 0.18 0.16 0.18 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.09 0.07
0.06

0.02 0.01 0.00 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04 -0.10 -0.25 -0.36 -0.47
-0.58

0.28 0.28 0.26 0.25 0.23 0.23 0.22 0.22 0.20 0.19 0.18
0.18

0.13 0.13 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.06 0.05 0.03 0.02 0.01
0.02

0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.16
0.15

-3.21 -3.56 -3.87 -4.04 -2.79 -1.85 -1.26 -1.49 -1.51 -1.41 -1.41
-1.38

0.17 0.16 0.17 0.15 0.17 0.15 0.14 0.11 0.06 0.01 -0.12
-0.19

-3.88 -4.11 -4.44 -4.78 -2.96 -2.36 -2.16 -2.01 -1.91 -1.84 -1.81
-1.73

Results Page 24

228
231

-4.67 -4.72

-0.72 -1.01

-0.57 -0.58

-1.62 -1.66

0.06 0.06

-0.58 -0.69

0.18 0.17

0.02 0.02

0.15 0.13

-1.38 -2.50

-0.19 -0.27

-1.73 -3.38

234 237 240 243 246 249 252 255 258 261 264 267 270 273 276
279

-4.87 -5.24 -5.90 -6.93 -7.76 -8.40 -8.91 -9.39

-1.16 -1.58 -1.91 -1.97 -2.06 -1.67 -2.45 -2.61

-0.61 -0.64 -0.67 -0.71 -0.76 -0.80 -0.85 -0.90 -1.16 -1.69 -2.09
-2.27 -2.84 -3.73 -4.58 -5.39

-1.69 -1.68 -1.80 -2.30 -3.01 -3.78 -4.42 -5.09 -5.95 -6.07 -6.30
-6.62 -7.13 -8.03 -8.93 -9.62

0.07 0.05 0.08 0.07 0.05 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.01 -0.05 -0.11
-0.17 -0.18 -0.25 -0.32 -0.32

-0.81 -0.95 -1.07 -0.75 -0.72 -0.72 -0.74 -0.76 -0.77 -0.79 -0.81
-0.82 -0.92 -1.34 -1.67 -1.98

0.16 0.15 0.09 0.01 -0.08 -0.19 -0.28 -0.38 -0.43 -0.40 -0.37
-0.39 -0.39 -0.40 -0.40 -0.42

0.01 0.00 -0.01 -0.01 -0.03 -0.03 -0.04 -0.05 -0.12 -0.22 -0.31
-0.40 -0.52 -0.68 -0.84 -0.96

0.12 0.12 0.12 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.12 0.12
0.10 0.07 -0.01 -0.25 -0.31

-3.15 -3.64 -3.71 -4.13 -4.39 -4.78 -4.81 -5.26 -5.58 -4.48 -4.13
-3.89 -3.86 -3.86 -3.90 -3.95

-0.50 -0.47 -0.54 -0.48 -0.63 -0.87 -1.11 -1.37 -1.58 -1.83 -2.09
-2.37 -3.27 -4.54 -6.25 -8.16

-4.49 -5.13 -5.66 -6.21 -6.73 -7.21 -7.71 -8.23 -8.82 -7.29 -6.79
-6.37 -6.26 -6.31 -6.48 -6.76

-10.20 -2.99 -11.26 -3.28 -12.42 -3.67

-13.58 -4.16 -14.71 -4.93 -15.76 -6.43 -16.64 -7.94 -17.09 -9.57

282 285 288 291 294 297 300

-17.33 -11.05 -17.45 -12.54 -17.48 -13.99 -17.45 -15.16 -17.37 -16.15 -17.24 -16.61 -17.09 -16.93

-6.29 -7.58 -8.78 -9.40 -9.95 -10.55 -11.02

-10.20 -10.73 -11.10 -11.37 -11.83 -12.62 -13.76

-0.32 -0.36 -0.37 -0.39 -0.41 -0.42 -0.44

-2.24 -2.50 -2.73 -3.01 -2.84 -2.57 -2.48

-0.43 -0.45 -0.46 -0.47 -0.64 -0.99 -1.32

-1.09 -1.23 -1.41 -1.65 -1.85 -2.14 -2.42

-0.42 -0.54 -1.32 -1.63 -3.58 -5.33 -6.98

-4.03 -4.43 -5.63 -6.91 -8.45 -10.33 -12.02

-10.29 -11.92 -12.88 -13.32 -13.75 -14.06 -14.03

-7.22 -7.98 -9.75 -11.19 -12.65 -13.81 -14.88

Results Page 25

Cone
15 August 2012 15:09

The formula for the Volume V, of a truncated cone whose height is h, and radius of the base is R and the radius of the top is r is given by : V= ph(R^2+Rr+r^2)/3. Proof: Let the height of the complete cone be H = h+h' where h' is the height of the chopped off part of the cone at a height h from the base. The frustum's bottom and top radius are R and r. So the Volume of the Frustum = Volume of the full cone - Volume of the chopped off part which is another cone with base radius r and height h'

Therefore
V = (1/3)p R^2 (h+h)' - (1/3) pr^2h'. = (1/3)P (R^2*h+R^2h' -r^2h')..........................(1) But r/R = h'/(h+h') in a cone by similar right angles triangles whose sides are r and h' and R and h+h'. This gives h' = rh/(R-r). Substituting this value of h' in (1) , we get:

V = (P/3){ R^2h R^2*rh/(R-r) -r^2*rh/(R-r)}

=(P/3){R^2h+rh(R^2-r^2)/(R-r)}

=(Ph/3){R^2+r(R+r)}, as (R^2-r^2)/(R-r) = (R+r)(R-r)/(R-r) = R+r.

=Ph(R^2+Rr+r^2}/3
Pasted from <http://www.enotes.com/math/q-and-a/what-formular-truncated-cone-143723/>

Results Page 26

Conduction in a cone
18 August 2012 17:15

Results Page 27

Experiment 2
19 August 2012 17:35

AVERAGE RESULTS
TIME (mins) PLASTI C CUP (oC) PLASTI C CUP + Alumin ium Foil (oC) 85 oC Room. 85 oC STYRO FOAM CUP (oC) STYRO FOAM CUP + Alumin ium Foil (oC) 85 oC Room. 85 oC STAINL ESS STEEL CUP (oC) STAINL ESS STEEL CUP + Alumin ium Foil (oC) 85 oC Room. 85 oC

Room. 0 3 6 9 12
15

Room.

Room.

17.83 85.87 17.67 85.13 17.28 85.91 17.23 85.94 17.88 85.02 17.97 85.56
16.94 71.51 16.71 72.10 16.81 73.35 16.78 71.92 16.97 61.53 15.51 66.42 15.61 62.97 14.95 62.55 14.37 63.42 15.84 64.49 15.43 54.18 14.79 55.00 14.60 54.62 13.46 55.29 12.83 55.63 14.92 57.40 14.84 45.68 14.32 46.42 13.27 47.76 12.11 49.30 10.02 49.02 13.97 51.46 13.26 38.18 12.96 39.10 12.06 41.91 10.99 44.27 8.66 43.57 13.26 46.78 11.17 33.15 11.68 32.65

18 21 24 27 30
33 36

10.93 36.74 9.91 39.94 7.35 38.96 12.46 42.74 9.95 29.60 10.44 29.12
9.84 32.22 9.01 36.18 6.09 34.97 11.79 39.33 8.02 26.32 9.40 25.52 8.46 28.43 8.22 32.86 4.86 31.47 11.07 36.30 7.82 24.25 7.62 23.06 6.13 25.49 7.25 28.51 3.35 28.54 10.28 33.20 6.11 22.06 6.05 20.85 5.36 22.96 6.01 24.32 2.96 26.16 9.37 29.98 4.98 20.26 3.96 18.67 4.57 20.74 4.75 20.42 2.70 23.85 8.36 26.78 3.86 18.28 2.32 16.81 3.01 18.70 3.60 16.86 2.21 22.03 7.32 24.12 3.10 16.81 1.10 15.39 2.84 16.85 3.32 13.58 1.72 20.19 6.30 21.29 1.67 14.98 0.51 13.92 2.12 15.21 2.21 10.57 1.27 18.54 5.42 19.02 0.84 13.66 0.40 12.53 1.75 13.56 1.17 0.98 11.72 0.71 0.44 0.39 9.83 7.98 0.49 0.38 7.92 3.95 3.21 3.55 1.87 16.78 4.67 16.69 0.55 10.43 0.34 1.50 14.97 2.69 14.63 0.43 1.81 13.31 1.73 12.68 0.37 1.13 11.49 1.18 10.75 0.32 7.75 5.82 3.22 0.30 0.28 0.27 9.99 7.98 5.88 3.75

39 42 45 48
51 54

57 60 63 66 69
72

0.35
0.32 0.31 0.30 0.29 0.28

6.29
4.67 3.25 1.53 0.56 0.20

0.27
0.25 0.19 0.21 0.20 0.18

3.17
2.20 1.31 0.51 0.24 0.08

0.91
0.92 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.84

9.82
8.17 6.67 5.14 3.25 2.66

0.89
0.63 0.45 0.38 0.35 0.34

9.13
7.41 6.00 4.78 3.99 3.31

0.29
0.27 0.26 0.26 0.25 0.25

0.95
-0.75 -1.63 -2.00 -1.09 -1.03

0.26
0.26 0.25 0.24 0.24 0.24

1.55
0.35 0.01 -0.11 0.11 0.08

75 78 81 84 87
90

0.28
0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.29

0.18
0.20 0.18 0.17 0.16 0.16

0.17
0.16 0.19 0.18 0.17 0.17

0.15
0.16 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17

0.73
0.73 0.67 0.63 0.64 0.57

1.90
1.06 0.41 -0.01 0.07 0.20

0.33
0.33 0.33 0.32 0.31 0.31

2.41
1.99 0.95 0.51 0.33 0.23

0.25
0.25 0.24 0.24 0.23 0.23

-0.90
-0.87 -0.81 -0.87 -0.71 -0.74

0.23
0.24 0.24 0.23 0.24 0.25

0.08
0.05 0.05 0.06 0.06 0.05

Results Page 28

90 93 96
99 102

0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29

0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16

0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16

0.17 0.17 0.16 0.15 0.16

0.57 0.44 0.43 0.34 0.34

0.20 0.21 0.22 0.22 0.22

0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31

0.23 0.19 0.18 0.17 0.17

0.23 0.22 0.22 0.22 0.22

-0.74 -0.68 -0.63 -0.63 -0.50

0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25

0.05 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.09

105 108 111 114

117 120

0.28
0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.27

0.16
0.16 0.15 0.15 0.16 0.16

0.15
0.16 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15

0.16
0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16

0.34
0.33 0.29 0.28 0.23 0.21

0.22
0.21 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.20

0.31
0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31

0.17
0.17 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.17

0.22
0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23

-0.38
-0.09 0.13 0.20 0.34 0.01

0.25
0.24 0.23 0.22 0.22 0.21

0.16
0.23 0.30 0.32 0.33 0.31

123 126 129 132 135

138

0.27
0.27 0.27 0.26 0.25 0.25

0.16
0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16

0.14
0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.15

0.16
0.17 0.16 0.16 0.14 0.13

0.20
0.20 0.20 0.20 0.22 0.21

0.20
0.19 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.19

0.31
0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31

0.17
0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17

0.23
0.23 0.23 0.23 0.22 0.24

-0.22
-0.82 -1.44 -1.86 -2.19 -2.57

0.20
0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20

0.27
0.07 -0.43 -0.68 -0.89 -1.17

141 144 147 150 153

156 159

0.25
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.24 0.24

0.16
0.16 0.16 0.15 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.15 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.12

0.14
0.14 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.11 0.10 0.09 0.07 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.02

0.11
0.07 0.01 -0.07 -0.09 -0.11 -0.13 -0.16 -0.19 -0.23 -0.25 -0.11 -0.19

0.21
0.21 0.21 0.20 0.21 0.19 0.18 0.17 0.17 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.13

0.19
0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.18 0.16 0.14 0.13 0.11 0.09

0.31
0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.31

0.17
0.17 0.17 0.16 0.16 0.15 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.13 0.14 0.14 0.14

0.24
0.24 0.24 0.24 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.19 0.19 0.23 0.20 0.19 0.19

-2.68
-2.79 -2.86 -3.11 -3.31 -3.46 -3.62 -2.46 -1.98 -1.78 -1.62 -1.52 -1.45

0.22
0.22 0.22 0.22 0.22 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.17

-1.44
-1.72 -1.61 -2.41 -2.35 -2.57 -2.80 -1.48 -1.19 -1.02 -0.95 -0.87 -0.78

162 165 168 171

174 177

180 183 186 189 192

195

0.22
0.22 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20

0.10
0.09 0.07 0.05 0.05 0.03

0.01
0.01

-0.23
-0.28

0.16
0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16 0.16

0.06
0.02 -0.02 0.01 0.03 0.02

0.30
0.30 0.30 0.30 0.29 0.28

0.14
0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13

0.18
0.17 0.17 0.15 0.14 0.13

-1.77
-2.70 -3.15 -3.53

0.15
0.13 0.12 0.15

-1.35
-2.28 -2.91 -3.23

-0.00 -0.33 -0.02 -0.52 -0.02 -0.76 -0.03 -0.97

-3.11 -0.10 -3.53 -3.21 -0.09 -3.88

198 201 204 207 210

213

0.20
0.20 0.20 0.20 0.21 0.21

0.02

-0.04 -1.16

0.16
0.16 0.18 0.16 0.18 0.16

0.01
0.00 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04

0.28
0.26 0.25 0.23 0.23 0.22

0.13
0.12 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.06

0.12
0.11 0.06 0.01

-3.56 -0.10 -4.11

-3.87 -0.01 -4.44 -4.04 -0.09 -4.78 -2.79 -0.13 -2.96

-0.01 -0.06 -1.38 -0.03 -0.13 -1.62 -0.02 -0.20 -1.64 -0.09 -0.27 -1.52 -0.10 -0.33 -1.45

-0.02 -1.85 -0.15 -2.36 -0.02 -1.26 -0.14 -2.16

Results Page 29

216 219 222 225

228 231

0.20 0.19 0.18 0.16 0.15 0.13 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.14 0.14 0.14

-0.12 -0.39 -1.48 -0.25 -0.48 -1.52 -0.42 -0.58 -1.53 -0.49 -0.58 -1.58 -0.72 -0.57 -1.62 -1.01 -0.58 -1.66 -1.16 -0.61 -1.69 -1.58 -0.64 -1.68 -1.91 -0.67 -1.80 -1.97 -0.71 -2.30 -2.06 -0.76 -3.01 -1.67 -0.80 -3.78

0.14 0.11 0.09 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.05 0.08 0.07 0.05 0.03

-0.10 -0.25 -0.36 -0.47 -0.58 -0.69 -0.81 -0.95 -1.07 -0.75

0.22 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.18 0.17 0.16 0.15 0.09 0.01

0.05 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.00

-0.03 -1.49 -0.11 -2.01 -0.07 -1.51 -0.06 -1.91 -0.11 -1.41 -0.01 -1.84 -0.12 -1.41 -0.12 -1.81 -0.15 -1.38 -0.19 -1.73 -0.17 -2.50 -0.27 -3.38 -0.25 -3.15 -0.50 -4.49 -0.31 -3.64 -0.47 -5.13

234 237 240 243

246 249

-0.01 -0.39 -3.71 -0.54 -5.66 -0.01 -0.41 -4.13 -0.48 -6.21

-0.72 -0.08 -0.03 -0.53 -4.39 -0.63 -6.73 -0.72 -0.19 -0.03 -0.62 -4.78 -0.87 -7.21

252 255 258 261 264

267

0.14
0.13 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.10

-2.45 -0.85 -3.42

-2.61 -0.90 -4.09 -2.99 -1.16 -3.95

0.02
0.02 0.01

-0.74 -0.28 -0.04 -0.76 -4.81 -1.11 -7.71

-0.76 -0.38 -0.05 -0.91 -5.26 -1.37 -8.23 -0.77 -0.43 -0.12 -1.00 -5.58 -1.58 -8.82

-3.28 -1.69 -4.07 -0.05 -0.79 -0.40 -0.22 -1.19 -4.48 -1.83 -7.29 -3.67 -2.09 -4.30 -0.11 -0.81 -0.37 -0.31 -1.45 -4.13 -2.09 -6.79 -4.16 -2.27 -4.62 -0.17 -0.82 -0.39 -0.40 -1.96 -3.89 -2.37 -6.37

270 273 276 279 282

285 288

0.07

-3.93 -2.84 -5.13 -0.18 -0.92 -0.39 -0.52 -1.79 -3.86 -3.27 -6.26

-0.01 -4.43 -3.73 -6.03 -0.25 -1.34 -0.40 -0.68 -1.87 -3.86 -4.54 -6.31 -0.25 -4.94 -3.58 -6.93 -0.32 -1.67 -0.45 -0.84 -2.62 -3.90 -6.25 -6.48 -0.31 -4.57 -4.39 -6.62 -0.32 -1.98 -0.78 -0.96 -3.14 -4.95 -8.16 -6.76 -0.42 -5.05 -6.29 -6.68 -0.32 -2.24 -0.81 -1.09 -4.79 -5.03 -9.29 -7.22 -0.54 -5.54 -6.58 -7.73 -0.36 -2.26 -0.92 -1.23 -4.98 -6.43 -9.92 -7.98 -1.32 -5.99 -7.78 -8.10 -0.37 -2.25 -1.04 -1.41 -5.01 -8.63 -10.8 -9.75 8

291 294 297 300

-1.63 -6.16 -8.40 -8.37 -0.39 -2.13 -1.47 -1.65 -6.39 -10.9 -11.3 -11.1 1 2 9 -3.58 -6.15 -8.75 -8.83 -0.41 -2.09 -1.64 -1.85 -7.09 -12.4 -11.7 -12.6 5 5 5
-5.33 -6.61 -8.94 -9.62 -0.42 -2.19 -1.99 -2.14 -8.21 -13.3 -12.0 -13.8 3 6 1 -6.13 -6.93 -9.01 -9.76 -0.44 -2.11 -2.32 -2.42 -10.3 -13.9 -12.4 -14.8 2 7 3 8

Results Page 30

Final Results
25 August 2012 14:11

AVERAGE RESULTS
TIME (mins) PLASTIC CUP (oC) PLASTIC CUP + Aluminiu m Foil (oC) STYROF OAM CUP (oC) STYROFO AM CUP + Aluminiu m Foil (oC) STAINLE SS STEEL CUP (oC) STAINLES S STEEL CUP + Aluminiu m Foil (oC)

Room.
0

85 oC

Room.

85 oC

Room.

85 oC

Room.

85 oC

Room.

85 oC

Room.

85 oC

17.83 85.87

17.67

85.13 17.28 85.91

17.23

85.94 17.88 85.02

17.97

85.56

3 6
9

16.94 71.51 15.61 62.97

14.60 54.62

16.71 14.95
13.46

72.10 16.81 73.35 62.55 14.37 63.42

55.29 12.83 55.63

16.78 15.84
14.92

71.92 16.97 61.53 64.49 15.43 54.18

57.40 14.84 45.68

15.51 14.79
14.32

66.42 55.00
46.42

12 15
18

13.27 47.76 12.06 41.91

10.93 36.74

12.11 10.99
9.91

49.30 10.02 49.02 44.27

39.94

13.97 13.26
12.46

51.46 13.26 38.18 46.78 11.17 33.15

42.74 9.95 29.60

12.96 11.68
10.44

39.10 32.65
29.12

8.66
7.35

43.57
38.96

21 24 27 30 33 36 39
42

9.84 8.46 6.13 5.36 4.57 3.01 2.84

2.12

32.22 28.43 25.49 22.96 20.74 18.70 16.85

15.21

9.01 8.22 7.25 6.01 4.75 3.60 3.32

2.21

36.18 32.86 28.51 24.32 20.42 16.86 13.58

10.57

6.09 4.86 3.35 2.96 2.70 2.21 1.72

1.27

34.97 31.47 28.54 26.16 23.85 22.03 20.19

18.54

11.79 11.07 10.28 9.37 8.36 7.32 6.30

5.42

39.33 36.30 33.20 29.98 26.78 24.12 21.29

19.02

8.02 7.82 6.11 4.98 3.86 3.10 1.67

0.84

26.32 24.25 22.06 20.26 18.28 16.81 14.98

13.66

9.40 7.62 6.05 3.96 2.32 1.10 0.51

0.40

25.52 23.06 20.85 18.67 16.81 15.39 13.92

12.53

45 48
51

1.75 0.98
0.44

13.56 11.72
9.83

1.17 0.71
0.49

7.92 3.95
3.21

1.87 1.50
1.81

16.78 14.97
13.31

4.67 2.69
1.73

16.69 14.63
12.68

0.55 0.43
0.37

10.43 7.75
5.82

0.34 0.30
0.28

9.99 7.98
5.88

54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 78 81
84

0.39 0.35
0.32

7.98 6.29
4.67

0.38 0.27
0.25

3.55 3.17
2.20

1.13 0.91
0.92

11.49 9.82
8.17

1.18 0.89
0.63

10.75 9.13
7.41

0.32 0.29
0.27

3.22 0.95
-0.75

0.27 0.26
0.26

3.75 1.55
0.35

0.31 0.30 0.29 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28

0.28

3.25 1.53 0.56 0.20 0.18 0.20 0.18

0.17

0.19 0.21 0.20 0.18 0.17 0.16 0.19

0.18

1.31 0.51 0.24 0.08 0.15 0.16 0.17

0.17

0.82 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.73 0.73 0.67

0.63

6.67 5.14 3.25 2.66 1.90 1.06 0.41

-0.01

0.45 0.38 0.35 0.34 0.33 0.33 0.33

0.32

6.00 4.78 3.99 3.31 2.41 1.99 0.95

0.51

0.26 0.26 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.24

0.24

-1.63 -2.00 -1.09 -1.03 -0.90 -0.87 -0.81

-0.87

0.25 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.23 0.24 0.24

0.23

0.01 -0.11 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.05 0.05

0.06

87 90
93

0.28 0.29
0.29

0.16 0.16
0.16

0.17 0.17
0.17

0.17 0.17
0.17

0.64 0.57
0.44

0.07 0.20
0.21

0.31 0.31
0.31

0.33 0.23
0.19

0.23 0.23
0.22

-0.71 -0.74
-0.68

0.24 0.25
0.25

0.06 0.05
0.04

96 99

0.29 0.29

0.16 0.16

0.17 0.17

0.16 0.15

0.43 0.34

0.22 0.22

0.31 0.31

0.18 0.17

0.22 0.22

-0.63 -0.63

0.25 0.25

0.05 0.06

Results Page 31

99 102 105 108

111

0.29 0.29 0.28 0.28

0.28

0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16

0.15

0.17 0.16 0.15 0.16

0.15

0.15 0.16 0.16 0.16

0.16

0.34 0.34 0.34 0.33

0.29

0.22 0.22 0.22 0.21

0.21

0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31

0.31

0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17

0.16

0.22 0.22 0.22 0.23

0.23

-0.63 -0.50 -0.38 -0.09

0.13

0.25 0.25 0.25 0.24

0.23

0.06 0.09 0.16 0.23

0.30

114 117
120

0.28 0.28
0.27

0.15 0.16
0.16

0.15 0.15
0.15

0.16 0.16
0.16

0.28 0.23
0.21

0.21 0.20
0.20

0.31 0.31
0.31

0.16 0.16
0.17

0.23 0.23
0.23

0.20 0.34
0.01

0.22 0.22
0.21

0.32 0.33
0.31

123 126 129 132 135 138 141 144 147 150
153

0.27 0.27
0.27

0.16 0.16
0.16

0.14 0.14
0.14

0.16 0.17
0.16

0.20 0.20
0.20

0.20 0.19
0.18

0.31 0.31
0.31

0.17 0.17
0.17

0.23 0.23
0.23

-0.22 -0.82
-1.44

0.20 0.20
0.20

0.27 0.07
-0.43

0.26 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25

0.25

0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.15

0.16

0.14 0.14 0.15 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.13

0.12

0.16 0.14 0.13 0.11 0.07 0.01 -0.07

-0.09

0.20 0.22 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.20

0.21

0.18 0.18 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19

0.19

0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.30 0.30 0.30

0.30

0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16

0.16

0.23 0.22 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24

0.21

-1.86 -2.19 -2.57 -2.68 -2.79 -2.86 -3.11

-3.31

0.20 0.20 0.20 0.22 0.22 0.22 0.22

0.22

-0.68 -0.89 -1.17 -1.44 -1.72 -1.61 -2.41

-2.35

156 159
162

0.25 0.25
0.25

0.16 0.16
0.16

0.11 0.10
0.09

-0.11 -0.13
-0.16

0.19 0.18
0.17

0.19 0.19
0.18

0.30 0.30
0.30

0.15 0.15
0.14

0.21 0.21
0.19

-3.46 -3.62
-2.46

0.23 0.23
0.23

-2.57 -2.80
-1.48

165 168 171 174 177 180 183

186

0.25 0.25
0.25

0.15 0.15
0.14

0.07 0.05
0.04

-0.19 -0.23
-0.25

0.17 0.15
0.14

0.16 0.14
0.13

0.30 0.30
0.30

0.13 0.13
0.14

0.19 0.23
0.20

-1.98 -1.78
-1.62

0.23 0.20
0.19

-1.19 -1.02
-0.95

0.24 0.24 0.22 0.22

0.20

0.13 0.12 0.10 0.09

0.07

0.04 0.02 0.01 0.01

-0.00

-0.11 -0.19 -0.23 -0.28

-0.33

0.13 0.13 0.16 0.17

0.17

0.11 0.09 0.06 0.02

-0.02

0.30 0.31 0.30 0.30

0.30

0.14 0.14 0.14 0.13

0.13

0.19 0.19 0.18 0.17

0.17

-1.52 -1.45 -1.77 -2.70

-3.15

0.18 0.17 0.15 0.13

0.12

-0.87 -0.78 -1.35 -2.28

-2.91

189 192
195

0.20 0.20
0.20

0.05 0.05
0.03

-0.02 -0.02
-0.03

-0.52 -0.76
-0.97

0.17 0.16
0.16

0.01 0.03
0.02

0.30 0.29
0.28

0.13 0.13
0.13

0.15 0.14
0.13

-3.53 -3.11
-3.21

0.15 -0.10
-0.09

-3.23 -3.53
-3.88

198 201 204 207 210 213 216 219 222 225
228

0.20 0.20
0.20

0.02 -0.01
-0.03

-0.04 -0.06
-0.13

-1.16 -1.38
-1.62

0.16 0.16
0.18

0.01 0.00
-0.02

0.28 0.26
0.25

0.13 0.12
0.10

0.12 0.11
0.06

-3.56 -3.87
-4.04

-0.10 -0.01
-0.09

-4.11 -4.44
-4.78

0.20 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.16

0.15

-0.02 -0.09 -0.10 -0.12 -0.25 -0.42 -0.49

-0.72

-0.20 -0.27 -0.33 -0.39 -0.48 -0.58 -0.58

-0.57

-1.64 -1.52 -1.45 -1.48 -1.52 -1.53 -1.58

-1.62

0.16 0.18 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.09 0.07

0.06

-0.02 -0.03 -0.04 -0.10 -0.25 -0.36 -0.47

-0.58

0.23 0.23 0.22 0.22 0.20 0.19 0.18

0.18

0.08 0.07 0.06 0.05 0.03 0.02 0.01

0.02

0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03 -0.07 -0.11 -0.12

-0.15

-2.79 -1.85 -1.26 -1.49 -1.51 -1.41 -1.41

-1.38

-0.13 -0.15 -0.14 -0.11 -0.06 -0.01 -0.12

-0.19

-2.96 -2.36 -2.16 -2.01 -1.91 -1.84 -1.81

-1.73

Results Page 32

228 231 234 237

240

0.15 0.13 0.12 0.12

0.12

-0.72 -1.01 -1.16 -1.58

-1.91

-0.57 -0.58 -0.61 -0.64

-0.67

-1.62 -1.66 -1.69 -1.68

-1.80

0.06 0.06 0.07 0.05

0.08

-0.58 -0.69 -0.81 -0.95

-1.07

0.18 0.17 0.16 0.15

0.09

0.02 0.02 0.01 0.00

-0.01

-0.15 -0.17 -0.25 -0.31

-0.39

-1.38 -2.50 -3.15 -3.64

-3.71

-0.19 -0.27 -0.50 -0.47

-0.54

-1.73 -3.38 -4.49 -5.13

-5.66

243 246
249

0.14 0.14
0.14

-1.97 -2.06
-1.67

-0.71 -0.76
-0.80

-2.30 -3.01
-3.78

0.07 0.05
0.03

-0.75 -0.72
-0.72

0.01 -0.08
-0.19

-0.01 -0.03
-0.03

-0.41 -0.53
-0.62

-4.13 -4.39
-4.78

-0.48 -0.63
-0.87

-6.21 -6.73
-7.21

252 255 258 261 264 267 270

273

0.14 0.13
0.12

-2.45 -2.61
-2.99

-0.85 -0.90
-1.16

-3.42 -4.09
-3.95

0.02 0.02
0.01

-0.74 -0.76
-0.77

-0.28 -0.38
-0.43

-0.04 -0.05
-0.12

-0.76 -0.91
-1.00

-4.81 -5.26
-5.58

-1.11 -1.37
-1.58

-7.71 -8.23
-8.82

0.12 0.12 0.10 0.07

-0.01

-3.28 -3.67 -4.16 -3.93

-4.43

-1.69 -2.09 -2.27 -2.84

-3.73

-4.07 -4.30 -4.62 -5.13

-6.03

-0.05 -0.11 -0.17 -0.18

-0.25

-0.79 -0.81 -0.82 -0.92

-1.34

-0.40 -0.37 -0.39 -0.39

-0.40

-0.22 -0.31 -0.40 -0.52

-0.68

-1.19 -1.45 -1.96 -1.79

-1.87

-4.48 -4.13 -3.89 -3.86

-3.86

-1.83 -2.09 -2.37 -3.27

-4.54

-7.29 -6.79 -6.37 -6.26

-6.31

276 279
282

-0.25 -0.31
-0.42

-4.94 -4.57
-5.05

-3.58 -4.39
-6.29

-6.93 -6.62
-6.68

-0.32 -0.32
-0.32

-1.67 -1.98
-2.24

-0.45 -0.78
-0.81

-0.84 -0.96
-1.09

-2.62 -3.14
-4.79

-3.90 -4.95
-5.03

-6.25 -8.16
-9.29

-6.48 -6.76
-7.22

285 288
291

-0.54 -1.32
-1.63

-5.54 -5.99
-6.16

-6.58 -7.78
-8.40

-7.73 -8.10
-8.37

-0.36 -0.37
-0.39

-2.26 -2.25
-2.13

-0.92 -1.04
-1.47

-1.23 -1.41
-1.65

-4.98 -5.01

-6.43 -8.63

-9.92 -10.88

-7.98 -9.75

-6.39 -10.91 -11.32 -11.19

294 297 300

-3.58 -5.33 -6.13

-6.15 -6.61 -6.93

-8.75 -8.94 -9.01

-8.83 -9.62 -9.76

-0.41 -0.42 -0.44

-2.09 -2.19 -2.11

-1.64 -1.99 -2.32

-1.85 -2.14

-7.09 -12.45 -11.75 -12.65 -8.21 -13.33 -12.06 -13.81

-2.42 -10.32 -13.97 -12.43 -14.88

PLASTIC CUP
Without A.F
Room BEFORE 129.49 85

STYROFOA M CUP
With A.F
Room 85 129.11 132.45 131.98

STAINLESS STEEL CUP

With A.F
85 Room 85 127.76 130.48 131.01

Without A.F
Room 127.22

Without A.F
Room 162.75 85

With A.F
Room 85 162.34 165.12 162.31

AFTER Differenc e

128.35 1.14

124.37 131.58 127.66 4.74 0.87 4.32

125.24 1.88

122.64 129.45 126.04 5.12 1.03 4.97

161.91 0.84

158.46 164.91 158.85 3.88 0.21 3.46

AVERAGE WATER QUALITY

ACIDITY (pH) Room Temperature 85 oC DISSOLVED OXYGEN (mg/L)

8.43 9.32

12.91 0.62

Results Page 33

1
16 August 2012 20:08

The variable of Surface area was changed to surface roughness because theoretically both change convection but the surface area also effects the conduction by air whereas changing to surface roughness only effects convection. By using foil for changing roughness, it is a better reason to ignore radiation

Obsticles Page 34

2
16 August 2012 20:09

When a 100 degree celcius water was taken to the freezer, it was noticed that the temperature didnt remain constant as it generally decreased when put into the freezer hence making it an unfair experiment. Also having water boiling caused water to be lost due to evaporation therefore it was decided to us 85 degree celcius. So the temperature doesnt drop, the water was heated until 90, covered with plastic sheet ( no evaporation) and then taken into the freezer. We waited until the temp dropped to 85

Obsticles Page 35

3
16 August 2012 20:09

As many of the cups are small and thin, it was very difficult to measure its thickness using a normal micrometer. For accuracy, we used a digital micrometer, which was much more accurate as its results were in three decimal place.

Obsticles Page 36

4
16 August 2012 20:09

The experiment with the plastic cup was repeated because it didnt show expected results. Actually the results made no sense because according to it, the plastic was the better conductor for heat transfer. Therefore we though about it. Then we figure that the radiation factor wasnt kept constant, as the plastic cup was transparent. Therefore the heat could go straight through. Now we are using white plastic cups, for more fair results.

Screen clipping taken: 16-08-2012 21:11

Obsticles Page 37

Modifications
15 August 2012 14:53

MODIFICATIONS
After conducting the first trial experiment, there were several modifications made to improve the method: MODIFICATION
Instead of testing the effect of surface area, the variable was changed to the roughness of the inner and outer walls of the cup.

JUSTIFICATION
This was altered due to two reasons. The first being that materials such as plates and bowls were hard to find in consistent and similar shapes. Therefore, if the experiment were to be continued, then the results would not have been accurate and reliable as not all factors, such as thickness and shape, were kept constant. The second reason being that by changing the surface area, the conduction and convection rates would have been altered as the surface area of the outer walls would also change. However, the purpose of changing this specific variable was to only test for the convection currents. Therefore, since convection is reliant on the smoothness of the edges of the container, the surface area variable was replaced with the roughness of the walls variable.

Instead of testing for four different initial water temperatures (25 oC, 50 oC, 75 oC and 100 oC) only two initial temperatures were tested (room temperature and 85 oC)

This was altered purely because of the fact that testing for four different temperatures took a significant amount of time. As this variable tested the impact of different water temperatures, (hot and cold), it would be fair and reasonable to test for only room temperature and 85 oC. The reason for why water at 100 oC was not tested was due to that fact that by the time the volumes of water was transferred into a measuring cylinder and then into the cup, a great amount of heat (approximately 12-15 oC) was lost to the surrounding environment.

The experiment was conducted for 5 hours instead of 3 hours

The time length of this experiment had to be altered as for this experiment to be fair; all the volumes of water would have to pass the latent phase. The styrofoam cup (assumed to take the longest to freeze) took approximately 4 hours 40 mins, therefore the duration of the experiment was changed to 5 hours.

IMprovements Page 38

A digital micrometer was used to measure the thickness of the cups instead of a manual micrometer

When measuring the cups, it was found that the recordings were not consistent; therefore to increase the accuracy, a digital micrometer was used. Also, by using a digital device, it decreases the chanced of human errors.

IMprovements Page 39

Monwhea Jeng, 1998

15 August 2012 14:57

[Physics FAQ] - [Copyright] Written Nov, 1998 by Monwhea Jeng (Momo), Department of Physics, University of California

Can hot water freeze faster than cold water?

Yes a general explanation History of the Mpemba Effect More-detailed explanations References

Yes a general explanation

Hot water can in fact freeze faster than cold water for a wide range of experimental conditions. This phenomenon is extremely counterintuitive, and surprising even to most scientists, but it is in fact real. It has been seen and studied in numerous experiments. While this phenomenon has been known for centuries, and was described by Aristotle, Bacon, and Descartes [13], it was not introduced to the modern scientific community until 1969, by a Tanzanian high school pupil named Mpemba. Both the early scientific history of this effect, and the story of Mpemba's rediscovery of it, are interesting in their own right Mpemba's story in particular providing a dramatic parable against making snap judgements about what is impossible. This is described separately below. The phenomenon that hot water may freeze faster than cold is often called the Mpemba effect. Because, no doubt, most readers are extremely skeptical at this point, we should begin by stating precisely what we mean by the Mpemba effect. We start with two containers of water, which are identical in shape, and which hold identical amounts of water. The only difference between the two is that the water in one is at a higher (uniform) temperature than the water in the other. Now we cool both containers, using the exact same cooling process for each container. Under some conditions the initially warmer water will freeze first. If this occurs, we have seen the Mpemba effect. Of course, the initially warmer water will not freeze before the initially cooler water for all initial conditions. If the hot water starts at 99.9C, and the cold water at 0.01C, then clearly under those circumstances, the initially cooler water will freeze first. However, under some conditions the initially warmer water will freeze first: if that happens, you have seen the Mpemba effect. But you will not see the Mpemba effect for just any initial temperatures, container shapes, or cooling conditions. This seems impossible, right? Many sharp readers may have already come up with a common proof that the Mpemba effect is impossible. The proof usually goes something like this. Say that the initially cooler water starts at 30C and takes 10 minutes to freeze, while the initially warmer water starts out at 70C. Now the initially warmer water has to spend some time cooling to get to get down to 30C, and after that, it's going to take 10 more minutes to freeze. So since the initially warmer water has to do everything that the initially cooler water has to do, plus a little more, it will take at least a little longer, right? What can be wrong with this proof? What's wrong with this proof is that it implicitly assumes that the water is characterized solely by a single number its average temperature. But if other factors besides the average temperature are important, then when the initially warmer water has cooled to an average temperature of 30C, it may look very different than the initially cooler water (at a uniform 30C) did at the start. Why? Because the water may have changed when it cooled down from a uniform 70C to an average 30C. It could have less mass, less dissolved gas, or convection currents producing a nonuniform temperature distribution. Or it could have changed the environment around the container in the refrigerator. All four of these changes are conceivably important, and each will be considered separately below. So the impossibility proof given above doesn't work. And in fact the Mpemba effect has been observed in a number of controlled experiments [5,714] It is still not known exactly why this happens. A number of possible explanations for the effect have been proposed, but so far the experiments do not show clearly which, if any, of the proposed mechanisms is the most important one. While you will often hear confident claims that X is the cause of the Mpemba effect, such claims are usually based on guesswork, or on looking at the evidence in only a few papers and ignoring the rest. Of course, there is nothing wrong with informed theoretical guesswork or being selective in which experimental results you trust; the problem is that different people make different claims as to what X is. Why hasn't modern science answered this seemingly simple question about cooling water? The main problem is that the time it takes water to freeze is highly sensitive to a number of details in the experimental setup, such as the shape and size of the container, the shape and size of the refrigeration unit, the gas and impurity content of the water, how the time of freezing is defined, and so on. Because of this sensitivity, while experiments have generally agreed that the Mpemba effect occurs, they disagree over the conditions under which it occurs, and thus about why it occurs. As Firth [7] wrote "There is a wealth of experimental variation in the problem so that any laboratory undertaking such investigations is guaranteed different results from all others." So with the limited number of experiments done, often under very different conditions, none of the proposed mechanisms can be confidently proclaimed as "the" mechanism. Above we described four ways in which the initially warmer water could have changed upon cooling to the initial temperature of the initially cooler water. What follows below is a short description of the four related mechanisms that have been suggested to explain the Mpemba effect. More ambitious readers can follow the links to more complete explanations of the mechanisms, as well as counterarguments and experiments that the mechanisms cannot explain. It seems likely that there is no one mechanism that explains the Mpemba effect for all circumstances, but that different mechanisms are important under different conditions. 1. Evaporation As the initially warmer water cools to the initial temperature of the initially cooler water, it may lose significant amounts of water to evaporation. The reduced mass will make it easier for the water to cool and freeze. Then the initially warmer water can freeze before the initially cooler water, but will make less ice. Theoretical calculations have shown that evaporation can explain the Mpemba effect if you assume that the water loses heat solely through evaporation [11]. This explanation is solid, intuitive, and evaporation is undoubtedly important in most situations. However, it is not the only mechanism. Evaporation cannot explain experiments that were done in closed containers, where no mass was lost to evaporation [12]. And many scientists have claimed that evaporation alone is insufficient to explain their results [5,9,12]. 2. Dissolved Gasses Hot water can hold less dissolved gas than cold water, and large amounts of gas escape upon boiling. So the initially warmer water may have less dissolved gas than the initially cooler water. It has been speculated that this changes the properties of the water in some way, perhaps making it easier to develop convection currents (and thus making it easier to cool), or decreasing the amount of heat required to freeze a unit mass of water, or changing the boiling point. There are some experiments that favor this explanation [10,14], but no supporting theoretical calculations.
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supporting theoretical calculations. 3. Convection As the water cools it will eventually develop convection currents and a non-uniform temperature distribution. At most temperatures, density decreases with increasing temperature, and so the surface of the water will be warmer than the bottom: this has been called a "hot top." Now if the water loses heat primarily through the surface, then water with a "hot top" will lose heat faster than we would expect based on its average temperature. When the initially warmer water has cooled to an average temperature the same as the initial temperature of the initially cooler water, it will have a "hot top", and thus its rate of cooling will be faster than the rate of cooling of the initially cooler water at the same average temperature. Got all that? You might want to read this paragraph again, paying careful distinction to the difference between initial temperature, average temperature, and temperature. While experiments have seen the "hot top", and related convection currents, it is unknown whether convection can by itself explain the Mpemba effect. 4. Surroundings A final difference between the cooling of the two containers relates not to the water itself, but to the surrounding environment. The initially warmer water may change the environment around it in some complex fashion, and thus affect the cooling process. For example, if the container is sitting on a layer of frost which conducts heat poorly, the hot water may melt that layer of frost, and thus establish a better cooling system in the long run. Obviously explanations like this are not very general, since most experiments are not done with containers sitting on layers of frost. Finally, supercooling may be important to the effect. Supercooling occurs when the water freezes not at 0C, but at some lower temperature. One experiment [12] found that its initially hot water supercooled less than its initially cold water. This would mean that the initially warmer water might freeze first because it would freeze at a higher temperature than the initially cooler water. If true, this would not fully explain the Mpemba effect, because we would still need to explain why initially warmer water supercools less than initially cooler water. In short, hot water does freeze sooner than cold water under a wide range of circumstances. It is not impossible, and has been seen to occur in a number of experiments. However, despite claims often made by one source or another, there is no well-agreed explanation for how this phenomenon occurs. Different mechanisms have been proposed, but the experimental evidence is inconclusive. For those wishing to read more on the subject, Jearl Walker's article in Scientific American [13] is very readable and has suggestions on how to do home experiments on the Mpemba effect, while the articles by Auerbach [12] and Wojciechowski [14] are two of the more modern papers on the effect.

History of the Mpemba Effect

The fact that hot water freezes faster than cold has been known for many centuries. The earliest reference to this phenomenon dates back to Aristotle in 300 B.C. The phenomenon was later discussed in the medieval era, as European physicists struggled to come up with a theory of heat. But by the 20th century the phenomenon was only known as common folklore, until it was reintroduced to the scientific community in 1969 by Mpemba, a Tanzanian high school pupil. Since then, numerous experiments have confirmed the existence of the "Mpemba effect", but have not settled on any single explanation. The earliest known reference to this phenomenon is by Aristotle, who wrote: "The fact that water has previously been warmed contributes to its freezing quickly; for so it cools sooner. Hence many people, when they want to cool hot water quickly, begin by putting it in the sun. . ."[1,4] He wrote these words in support of a mistaken idea which he called antiperistasis. Antiperistasis is defined as "the supposed increase in the intensity of a quality as a result of being surrounded by its contrary quality, for instance, the sudden heating of a warm body when surrounded by cold" [4]. Medieval scientists believed in Aristotle's theory of antiperistasis, and also sought to explain it. Not surprisingly, scientists in the 1400s had trouble explaining how it worked, and could not even decide whether (as Aristotle claimed in support of antiperistasis), human bodies and bodies of water were hotter in the winter than in the summer [4]. Around 1461, the physicist Giovanni Marliani, in a debate over how objects cooled, said that he had confirmed that hot water froze faster than cold. He said that he had taken four ounces of boiling water, and four ounces of nonheated water, placed them outside in similar containers on a cold winter day, and observed that the boiled water froze first. Marliani was, however, unable to explain this occurrence [4]. Later, in the 1600s, it was apparently common knowledge that hot water would freeze faster than cold. In 1620 Bacon wrote "Water slightly warm is more easily frozen than quite cold" [2], while a little later Descartes claimed "Experience shows that water that has been kept for a long time on the fire freezes sooner than other water" [3]. In time, a modern theory of heat was developed, and the earlier observations of Aristotle, Marliani, and others were forgotten, perhaps because they seemed so contradictory to modern concepts of heat. However, it was still known as folklore among many non-scientists in Canada [11], England [1521], the food processing industry [23], and elsewhere. It was not reintroduced to the scientific community until 1969, 500 years after Marliani's experiment, and more than two millennia after Aristotle's "Meteorologica I" [1]. The story of its rediscovery by a Tanzanian high school pupil named Mpemba is written up in the New Scientist [4]. The story provides a dramatic parable cautioning scientists and teachers against dismissing the observations of non-scientists and against making quick judgements about what is impossible. In 1963, Mpemba was making ice cream at school, which he did by mixing boiling milk with sugar. He was supposed to wait for the milk to cool before placing it the refrigerator, but in a rush to get scarce refrigerator space, put his milk in without cooling it. To his surprise, he found that his hot milk froze into ice cream before that of other pupils. He asked his physics teacher for an explanation, but was told that he must have been confused, since his observation was impossible. Mpemba believed his teacher at the time. But later that year he met a friend of his who made and sold ice cream in Tanga town. His friend told Mpemba that when making ice cream, he put the hot liquids in the refrigerator to make them freeze faster. Mpemba found that other ice cream sellers in Tanga had the same practice. Later, when in high school, Mpemba learned Newton's law of cooling, that describes how hot bodies are supposed to cool (under certain simplifying assumptions). Mpemba asked his teacher why hot milk froze before cold milk when he put them in the freezer. The teacher answered that Mpemba must have been confused. When Mpemba kept arguing, the teacher said "All I can say is that is Mpemba's physics and not the universal physics" and from then on, the teacher and the class would criticize Mpemba's mistakes in mathematics and physics by saying "That is Mpemba's mathematics" or "That is Mpemba's physics." But when Mpemba later tried the experiment with hot and cold water in the biology laboratory of his school, he again found that the hot water froze sooner. Earlier, Dr Osborne, a professor of physics, had visited Mpemba's high school. Mpemba had asked him to explain why hot water would freeze before cold water. Dr Osborne said that he could not think of any explanation, but would try the experiment later. When back in his laboratory, he asked a young technician to test Mpemba's claim. The technician later reported that the hot water froze first, and said "But we'll keep on repeating the experiment until we get the right result." However, repeated tests gave the same result, and in 1969 Mpemba and Osborne wrote up their results [5]. In the same year, in one of the coincidences so common in science, Dr Kell independently wrote a paper on hot water freezing sooner than cold water. Kell showed that if one assumed that the water cooled primarily by evaporation, and maintained a uniform temperature, the hot water would lose enough mass to freeze first [11]. Kell thus argued that the phenomenon (then a common urban legend in Canada) was real and could
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would lose enough mass to freeze first [11]. Kell thus argued that the phenomenon (then a common urban legend in Canada) was real and could be explained by evaporation. However, he was unaware of Osborne's experiments, which had measured the mass lost to evaporation and found it insufficient to explain the effect. Subsequent experiments were done with water in a closed container, eliminating the effects of evaporation, and still found that the hot water froze first [14]. Subsequent discussion of the effect has been inconclusive. While quite a few experiments have replicated the effect [4,613], there has been no consensus on what causes the effect. The different possible explanations are discussed above. The effect has repeatedly a topic of heated discussion in the "New Scientist", a popular science magazine. The letters have revealed that the effect was known by laypeople around the world long before 1969. Today, there is still no well-agreed explanation of the Mpemba effect.

More-detailed explanations
Evaporation
One explanation of the effect is that as the hot water cools, it loses mass to evaporation. With less mass, the liquid has to lose less heat to cool, and so it cools faster. With this explanation, the hot water freezes first, but only because there's less of it to freeze. Calculations done by Kell in 1969 [11] showed that if the water cooled solely by evaporation, and maintained a uniform temperature, the warmer water would freeze before the cooler water. This explanation is solid, intuitive, and undoubtedly contributes to the Mpemba effect in most physical situations. However, many people have incorrectly assumed that it is therefore "the" explanation for the Mpemba effect. That is, they assume that the only reason hot water can freeze faster than cold is because of evaporation, and that all experimental results can be explained by the calculations in Kell's article. However, the experiments currently do not bear out this belief. While experiments show evaporation to be important [13], they do not show that it is the only mechanism behind the Mpemba effect. A number of experimenters have argued that evaporation alone is insufficient to explain their results [5,9,12]; in particular, the original experiment by Mpemba and Osborne measured the mass lost to evaporation, and found it substantially less that the amount predicted by Kell's calculations [5,9]. And most convincingly, an experiment by Wojciechowski observed the Mpemba effect in a closed container, where no mass was lost to evaporation.

Dissolved Gasses
Another explanation argues that the dissolved gas usually present in water is expelled from the initially hot water, and that this changes the properties of the water in some way that explains the effect. It has been argued that the lack of dissolved gas may change the ability of the water to conduct heat, or change the amount of heat needed to freeze a unit mass of water, or change the freezing point of the water by some significant amount. It is certainly true that hot water holds less dissolved gas than cold water, and that boiled water expels most dissolved gas. The question is whether this can significantly affect the properties of water in a way that explains the Mpemba effect. As far as I know, there is no theoretical work supporting this explanation for the Mpemba effect. Indirect support can be found in two experiments that saw the Mpemba effect in normal water which held dissolved gasses, but failed to see it when using degassed water [10,14]. However, an attempt to measure the dependence of the enthalpy of freezing on the initial temperature and gas content of the water was inconclusive [14]. One problem with this explanation is that many experiments pre-boiled both the initially hot and initially cold water, precisely to eliminate the effect of dissolved gasses, and yet they still saw the effect [5,13]. Two somewhat unsystematic experiments found that varying the gas content of the water made no substantial difference to the Mpemba effect [9,12].

Convection
It has also been proposed that the Mpemba effect can be explained by the fact that the temperature of the water becomes non-uniform. As the water cools, temperature gradients and convection currents will develop. For most temperatures, the density of water decreases as the temperature increases. So over time, as water cools we will develop a "hot top" the surface of the water will be warmer than the average temperature of the water, or the water at the bottom of the container. If the water loses heat primarily through the surface, then this means that the water should lose heat faster than one would expect based just on looking at the average temperature of the water. And for a given average temperature, the heat loss should be greater the more inhomogenous the temperature distribution is (that is, the greater the range of the temperatures seen as we go from the top to the bottom). How does this explain the Mpemba effect? Well, the initially hot water will cool rapidly, and quickly develop convection currents and so the temperature of the water will vary greatly from the top of the water to the bottom. On the other hand, the initially cool water will have a slower rate of cooling, and will thus be slower to develop significant convection currents. Thus, if we compare the initially hot water and initially cold water at the same average temperature, it seems reasonable to believe that the initially hot water will have greater convection currents, and thus have a faster rate of cooling. To consider a concrete example, suppose that the initially hot water starts at 70C, and the initially cold water starts at 30C. When the initially cold water is at an average 30C, it is also a uniform 30C. However, when the initially hot water reaches an average 30C, the surface of the water is probably much warmer than 30C, and it will thus lose heat faster than the initially cold water for the same average temperature. Got that? This explanation is pretty confusing, so you might want to go back and read the last two paragraphs again, paying careful attention to the difference between initial temperature, average temperature, and surface temperature. At any rate, if the above argument is right, then when we plot the average temperature versus time for both the initially hot and initially cold water, then for some average temperatures the initially hot water will be cooling faster than the initially cold water. So the cooling curve of the initially hot water will not simply reproduce the cooling curve of the initially cold water, but will drop faster when in the same temperature range. This shows that the initially hot water goes faster, but of course it also has farther to go. So whether it actually finishes first (that is, reaches 0C first), is not clear from the above discussion. To know which one finishes first would require theoretical modelling of the convection currents (hopefully for a range of container shapes and sizes), which has not been done. So convection alone may be able to explain the Mpemba effect, but whether it actually does is not currently known. Experiments on the Mpemba effect have often reported a "hot top" [5,8,10], as we would expect. Experiments have been done that looked at the convection currents of freezing water[27,28], but their implications for the Mpemba effect are not entirely clear. It should also be noted that the density of water reaches a maximum at four C. So below fourC, the density of water actually decreases with decreasing temperature, and we will get a "cold top." This makes the situation even more complicated.

Surroundings
The initially hot water may change the environment around it in some way that makes it cool faster later on. One experiment reported significant changes in the data simply upon changing the size of the freezer that the container sat in [7]. So conceivably it is important not just to know about the water and the container, but about the environment around it. For example, one explanation for the Mpemba effect is that if the container is resting on a thin layer of frost, than the container holding the cold water will simply sit on the surface of the frost, while the container with the hot water will melt the frost, and then be sitting on the bottom of the freezer. The hot water will then have better thermal contact with the cooling systems. If the melted frost refreezes into an ice bridge between the freezer and the container, the thermal contact may be even better.

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freezer and the container, the thermal contact may be even better. Obviously, even if this argument is true, it has fairly limited utility, since most scientific experiments are careful enough not to rest the container on a layer of frost in a freezer, but instead place the container on a thermal insulator, or in a cooling bath. So while this proposed mechanism may or may not have some relevance to some home experiments, it's irrelevant for most published results.

Supercooling
Finally, supercooling may be important to the effect. Supercooling occurs when water freezes not at 0C, but at some lower temperature. This happens because the statement that "water freezes at 0C" is a statement about the lowest energy state of the water: at less than 0C, the water molecules "want" to be arranged as an ice crystal. This means that they will stop zooming around randomly as a liquid, and instead form a solid ice lattice. However, they don't know how to form themselves into an ice lattice, but need some small irregularity or nucleation site to tell them how to arrange themselves. Sometimes, when water is cooled below 0C, the molecules will not see a nucleation site for some time, and then water will cool below 0C without freezing. This happens quite often. One experiment found that initially hot water would supercool only a little (say to about 2C), while initially cold water would supercool more (to around 8C) [12]. If true, this could explain the Mpemba effect because the initially cold water would need to "do more work"; that is, get colder in order to freeze. However, this also cannot be considered "the" sole explanation of the Mpemba effect. First of all, as far as I know, this result has not been independently confirmed. The experiment described above [12] only had a limited number of trials, so the results found could have been a statistical fluke. Second, even if the results are true, they do not fully explain the Mpemba effect, but replace one mystery with another. Why should initially hot water supercool less than initially cold water? After all, once the water has cooled to the lower temperature, one would generally expect that the water would not "remember" what temperature it used to be. One explanation is that the initially hot water has less dissolved gas than the initially cold water, and that this affects its supercooling properties (see Dissolved Gasses for more on this). The problem with this explanation is that one would expect that since the hot water has less dissolved gas, and thus fewer nucleation sites, it would supercool more, not less. Another explanation is that when the initially hot water has cooled down to 0C (or less), its temperature distribution throughout the container varies more than the initially cold water (see Convection for more on this). Since temperature shear induces freezing [26], the initially hot water supercools less, and thus freezes sooner. Third, this explanation cannot work in all of the experiments, because many of the experimenters chose to look not at the time to form a complete block of ice, but the time for some part of the water to reach 0C [7,10,13](or perhaps the time for a thin layer of frost to form on the top [17]). While [12] says that it is only a "true Mpemba effect" if the hot water freezes entirely first, other papers have defined the Mpemba effect differently. Since the precise time of supercooling is inherently unpredictable (see e.g. [26]), many experiments have chosen to measure not the time for the sample to actually become ice, but the time for which the sample's equilibrium ground state is ice; that is, the time when the top of the sample reached 0C [7,10,13]. The supercooling argument does not apply to these experiments.

References
Historical
1. Aristotle in E. W. Webster, "Meteorologica I", Oxford U. P., Oxford, 1923, pgs 348b349a 2. Bacon F 1620 Novum Organum Vol VIII of "The Works of Francis Bacon" 1869 ed. J. Spedding, R. L. Ellis and D. D. Heath (New York) pp 235, 337, quoted in T.S. Kuhn 1970 "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" 2nd edn (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), pg 16 3. Descartes R 1637, "Les Meteores" 164 published with "Discours de la Methode" (Leyden: Ian Marie) 1637, quoted in "Oeuvres de Descartes" Vol. VI 1902 ed. Adam and Tannery (Paris: Leopold Cerf) pg 238 (trans. F. C. Frank) 4. Clagett, Marshall, "Giovanni Marliani and Late Medieval Physics", AMS press, Inc., New York, 1967, pgs 72, 79, 94

Experiments on the Mpemba Effect

5. Mpemba and Osborne, "Cool", Physics Education 4, pgs 1725 (1969) 6. Ahtee, "Investigation into the Freezing of Liquids", Phys. Educ. 4, pgs 37980 (1969) 7. I. Firth, "Cooler?", Phys. Educ. 6, pgs 3241 (1979) 8. E. Deeson, "Coolerlower down", Phys. Educ. 6, pgs 4244 (1971) 9. Osborne, "Mind on Ice", Phys. Educ. 14, pgs 41417 (1979) 10. M. Freeman, "Cooler Still", Phys. Educ. 14, pgs 41721 (1979) 11. G.S. Kell, "The Freezing of Hot and Cold Water", American Journal of Physics, 37, #5, pgs 5645 (May 1969) 12. D. Auerbach, "Supercooling and the Mpemba effect: When hot water freezes quicker than cold", American Journal of Physics, 63, #10, pgs 8825 (Oct 1995) 13. J. Walker, "The Amateur Scientist", Scientific American, 237, #3, pgs 2467 (Sept. 1971) 14. B. Wojciechowski, "Freezing of Aqueous Solutions Containing Gases", Cryst. Res. Technol., 23, #7, pgs 8438 (1988)

General discussion on the Mpemba Effect

15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist, New Scientist,

42, #652, 5 June 1969, pg 515 2 Dec. 1995, pg 22 42, #654, 19 June 1969, pgs 6556 43, #657, 10 July 1969, pgs 889 43, #658, 17 July 1969, pgs 1589 43, #658, 25 Sept. 1969, pg 662 44, #672, 23 Oct. 1969, pg 205 45, #684, 15 Jan. 1970, pgs 1256 45, #686, 29 Jan. 1970, pgs 2256 2 Dec. 1995, pg 57 16 Mar. 1996, pg 58

Related Articles
26. J. Elsker, "The Freezing of Supercooled Water", Journal of Molecular Structure, 250, pgs 24551 (1991) 27. R.A. Brewster and B. Gebhart, "An experimental study of natural convection effects on downward freezing of pure water", Int. J. Heat Mass Trans. 31, #2, pgs 33148 (1988) 28. R.S. Tankin and R. Farhadieh, "Effects of Thermal Convection currents on Formation of Ice", Int. J. Heat Mass Trans., 14, pgs 95361

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 28. R.S. Tankin and R. Farhadieh, "Effects of Thermal Convection currents on Formation of Ice", Int. J. Heat Mass Trans., 14, pgs 95361 (1971)
Pasted from <http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/hot_water.html#Evaporation>

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Andrew Olson, Ph.D., Science Buddies

15 August 2012 14:58

Abstract This physics project seems like it should have an easy answer. Instead, it turns out to be a great illustration of why it is important to base scientific conclusions on the outcome of controlled experiments. Things don't always turn out as we expect! Objective
The goal of this project is to investigate the question, "Can hot water freeze faster than cold water?" Thorough background research, a precise formulation of the hypothesis, and careful experimental design are especially important for the success of this experiment.

Introduction

It may seem counterintuitive, but folk wisdom and a body of published evidence agree that, under some conditions, warmer water can freeze faster than colder water (for an excellent review on the subject, see Jeng, 2005). This phenomenon has been known for a long time, but was rediscovered by a Tanzanian high school student, Erasto Mpemba, in the 1960s. He and his classmates were making ice cream, using a recipe that included boiled milk. The students were supposed to wait for the mixture to cool before putting it in the freezer. The remaining space in the freezer was running out, and Mpemba noticed one of his classmates put his mixture in without boiling the milk. To save time and make sure that he got a spot in the freezer, Mpemba put his mixture in while it was still hot. He was surprised to find later that his ice cream froze first (Meng, 2005). When Mpemba later asked his teacher for an explanation of how his hotter ice cream mixture could freeze before a cooler one, the teacher teased him, "Well all I can say is that is Mpemba physics and not the universal physics" (quote in Jeng, 2005). Mpemba followed his curiosity and did more experiments with both water and milk, which confirmed his initial findings. He sought out an explanation for his findings from a visiting university professor, Dr. Osborne. Work in Dr. Osborne's lab confirmed the results, and Mpemba and Osborne described their experiments in a published paper (Mpemba and Osborne, 1969). Since Mpemba and Osbornes paper was published many scientists have tried to replicate their findings. In some cases people have seen the Mpemba effect, in other cases the hotter water does not freeze faster. Today most scientists consider the Mpemba effect to be a real phenomena but the variability in results has sparked a great deal of debate over what specific conditions are needed to see the effect and why it occurs. How can it be that hot water freezes faster than colder water? Somehow, the hot water must be able to lose its heat faster than the cold water. In order to understand how this could happen, you will need to do some background research on heat and heat transfer. Here is a quick summary, so that you can be familiar with the terms you will encounter. Heat is a measure of the average molecular motion of matter. Heat can be transferred from one piece of matter to another by four different methods:

radiation. Conduction is heat transfer by direct molecular interactions, without mass movement of matter. For example, when you pour hot water into a cup, the cup soon feels warm. The water molecules colliding with the inside surface of the cup transfer energy to the cup, warming it up. Convection is heat transfer by mass movement. You've probably heard the saying that "hot air rises." This happens because it is less dense than colder air. As the hot air rises, it creates currents of air flow. These circulating currents serve to transfer heat, and are an example of convection. Evaporation is another method of heat transfer. When molecules of a liquid vaporize, they escape from the liquid into the atmosphere. This transition requires energy, since a molecule in the vapor phase has more energy than a molecule in the liquid phase. Thus, as molecules evaporate from a liquid, they take away energy from the liquid, cooling it. Radiation is the final way to transfer heat. For most objects you encounter every day, this would be infrared radiation: light beyond the visible spectrum. Incandescent objectslike light bulb filaments, molten metal or the sun radiate at visible wavelengths as well.

conduction, convection,

evaporation, and

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bulb filaments, molten metal or the sun radiate at visible wavelengths as well. In addition to researching heat and heat transfer, you should also study previous experiments on this phenomenon. The review article by Monwhea Jeng (Jeng, 2005) is a great place to start. The Jeng article has an excellent discussion on formulating a testable hypothesis for this experiment. Another excellent article, if you can find it at your local library, is by Jearl Walker, in the September, 1997 issue of Scientific American (Walker, 1977). Walker measured the time taken for various water samples to cool down to the freezing point (0C), not the time for them to actually freeze. He measured the temperature of the water using a thermocouple, which could be placed at various depths in the beaker. Whether you use a thermocouple or a thermometer, it is important that the sensing portion of the device (thermocouple itself, or the bulb of the thermometer) be immersed in the water in order to get accurate readings. Walker used identical Pyrex beakers for his water samples, since they could go from the stove to the freezer without breaking. He used a metal plate over the stove burner to distribute the heat evenly to the beakers as they were heating. He heated the beakers slowly, and he also kept the beakers covered while heating, so that water that evaporated during heating would be returned to the beaker. Walker notes that "You cannot obtain accurate readings by first heating some water in a teakettle, pouring the water into a beaker already in the freezer and then taking a temperature reading. The water has cooled too much by then" (Walker, 1997, 246). Walker also reported that the air temperature in his freezer was between 8 and 15C. He advises, "To maintain a consistent air temperature be sure to keep the freezer door shut as much as possible" (Walker, 1977, 246). For further details on his experimental procedure and findings, see the original Scientific American article. The graph in Figure 1 shows some of Walker's data. The x-axis shows the time it took for the sample to reach 0C (in minutes). The y-axis shows the initial temperature of the sample (in C). The graph shows data from six separate experiments (af), each with a different symbol:
a. 50 ml water in small beaker, non-frost-free refrigerator (black squares),

b. 50 ml water in large beaker, non-frost-free refrigerator (red circles),

c. 50 ml water in large beaker, frost-free refrigerator (green triangles), d. 100 ml water in large beaker, thermocouple near bottom (blue triangles), e. 100 ml water in large beaker, covered with plastic wrap, thermocouple near bottom (light blue diamonds), f. 100 ml in large beaker, thermocouple near top (magenta triangles).

Under some conditions (b, d, f), he found that samples that were initially hotter reached 0 C faster than samples that were initially cooler, confirming Mpemba's results. Under other conditions (a, e), hotter samples took as long or longer than cooler samples to reach 0C. The results for experiment c are equivocalit's difficult to say whether the time differences are significant or not. This kind of variability is one of the things that has intrigued people about the Mpemba effect and makes it so interesting to experiment with.

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Figure 1. Some of Walker's results (Walker, 1977). For details, see text.

In this science project you will investigate the Mpemba effect for yourself. Will the conditions in your experiment lead to hot water or cold water freezing first? Make sure to thoroughly do your background research, formulate your hypothesis, and keep careful notes about your experimental design. This is also a great project to take time to systematically try different variables, like starting temperatures, tap water versus deionized water, humidity, and just about any other environmental factor you can think of! Who knows, maybe your data will help contribute to a greater understanding of the Mpemba effect.

Terms, Concepts, and Questions to Start Background Research

Mpemba effect Heat transfer Conduction Convection Evaporation Radiation

To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:

Phase change More advanced students may also want to study: Supercooling Nucleation sites for initialization of crystal formation

Questions

How does your freezer work to make things colder? What are some of the mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the Mpemba effect? How would you design an experiment to test one of the proposed explanations? Is the Mpemba effect always observed? Bibliography

For a news-type article on the subject, see: Ball, P., "Does Hot Water Freeze First?" Physics World April, 2006 [accessed March 19,

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Ball, P., "Does Hot Water Freeze First?" Physics World April, 2006 [accessed March 19, 2007] http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/19/4/4.
This review by Monwhea Jeng should be considered essential reading for this project: Jeng, M., 2005. "Hot Water Can Freeze Faster Than Cold?!?" PhysicsarXiv:physics/0512262, v1 (29 Dec 2005) [accessed March 20, 2007] http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0512/0512262v1.pdf. This Scientific American article has data from actual experiments and includes details of the experimental methods used. It is highly recommended : Walker, J. 1977. "The Amateur Scientist: Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold Water. Why Does It Do So?" Scientific American 237 (3): 246257. This is the article that renewed interest in the phenomenon, and gave it the name "the Mpemba effect:" Mpemba, E.B. and D.G. Osborne, 1969. "Cool?" Physics Education 4:172175. For contrary views, see this article and the references in it: Nave, C.R., 2006. "Hot Water Freezing," HyperPhysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University [accessed March 19, 2007]http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/freezhot.html#c1. Identical Pyrex beakers for holding water Metal plate or stove burner to distribute heat evenly Cover for the beaker during heating Two thermometers Freezer (or other means for cooling water below freezing point)

Materials and Equipment

Stove (or other means of heating the water)

Hot mitt Gram scale, such as the Fast Weigh MS-500-BLK Digital Pocket Scale, 500 by 0.1 G, available from Amazon.com Clock or timer

Pasted from <http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Phys_p032.shtml>

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ElectronicsTeacher
15 August 2012 15:00

Heat and Thermodynamics

The Mpemba Effect - Hot Water Freezes before Cold

The Mpemba Effect is a special phenomenon where hot water freezes faster than cold water. The discovery of this effect was made by a high school student named Mpemba in Tanzania, Africa in 1969. He noticed this phenomenon while making ice cream and was curious enough to make note of it. His teachers did not believe it was possible, and it took several years until university professors finally accepted his discovery. Questions you may have are:

What factors cause water to freeze? How can the Mpemba Effect be explained? What are the experimental conditions necessary for this effect?

How water freezes

To explain how the Mpemba Effect works, you first need to understand the factors involved in how water freezes.

Heat and temperature

Obviously, temperature is a factor in water freezing. Definitions The temperature of water in a container is the average energy of its molecules. The heat of the amount of water is defined as total amount of energy of all its molecules. Thus the heat is dependent on how much water is in the container and thus how many molecules there are in the container. Changing state When you place a container of water in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator, the water will cool and finally freeze. The temperature of the water goes down as the heat of the water (energy of the water molecules) is reduced. When the temperature reaches 32oF or 0oC, the water changes from a liquid to a solid state. Temperature stays until frozen Note that temperature of the water drops until it reaches the freezing point. Then it will stay at 32oF or 0oC until the water solidifies. After the water turns to ice, its temperature can become lower if the air temperature is lower.

Conduction
Much of the cooling is done by conduction. Container The container is is direct contact with some cold material, such as the freezer shelf. The container gets cold and also cools the water by conduction. Metal is a good conductor, so a metal pail would speed up cooling the water by conduction. On the other hand, wood is a poor conductor of heat. A wooden pail would require other heat transfer methods to cool the water. Air Cold air is in contact with both the container and the water. The water transfers heat to the cooler air by means of conduction, thus lowering the temperature of the water.

Convection
Convection is the transfer of energy through the movement of currents of a gas or liquid. You can see this motion when heating a pot of water on a stove. You can also feel the effect of it on a cold, windy day. Different densities cause water convection Since cold water is more dense than warm water, it will sink to the bottom of the container, causing some convection currents during the freezing process. When the temperature of the water gets below 39oF or 4oC, it becomes less dense and will float to the top until the water finally freezes. Air convection There is also the effect of the movement of cold air. Some freezers have small fans to move the cold air around, so the water can be cooled by this air convection. A windy day in the winter can cool things much more than a still day at the same temperature. Slowing freezing In some situations when water is moving, it can actually increase the time it takes to freeze as compared with still water. For example, ducks often paddle around in a pond in the winter to keep it from freezing over.

Evaporation
When a liquid evaporates, the higher energy molecules leave the lower energy molecules behind, resulting in lowering the temperature of the material. You can experience that by spreading some water on your skin and

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lowering the temperature of the material. You can experience that by spreading some water on your skin and blowing across it to enhance evaporation. there is more evaporation from hot water than from cold.

Radiation
Warm water may radiate out some its energy, but the amount of cooling caused by radiation is negligible.

Explanation of effect
Using knowledge of the factors involved in how water freezes, scientists tried to come up with an explanation of the Mpemba Effect. The factors that allow this effect to take place are conduction, evaporation, convection and dissolved gases. Since this is a complex effect, these explanations are somewhat speculative.

Good conduction and good contact

One theory is that frost on a container can slow down the cooling process. If hot water is placed in the freezer in a small container that is a good conductor of heat (or cold), the warmth of the container can melt any frost that collects on its surface. This includes the ice on the bottom surface. When this ice refreezes, it creates a good connection between the container and the surface, allowing much better conduction of cold than a container of cold water that has frost on its surface, including its bottom. As a result, heat is drawn out of the warmer container more rapidly than the one with cold water in it.

Convection and insulating surface

Just as a layer of frost on the surface of a container can slow down the conduction of heat from the water, a layer of ice on the upper surface of the water can insulate the water from the from the colder air currents. Since water becomes less dense between 37oF and 32oF (3oC and 0oC), it will float to the top and then finally freeze. This thin layer of ice will then act as an insulator protecting the water below from freezing rapidly and will slow down the freezing process of cold water. In the case of warm water, the convection currents will cause that ice to melt, allowing the water to cool more rapidly.

Evaporation
It is thought that evaporation is one factor that allows warm water to freeze faster than cold water. There is more evaporation from warm or hot water than from cold water. Thus the evaporation not only carries off some of the water, resulting in slightly less water to freeze in the warm water container, but it also causes the temperature of the warm container to drop due to heat lost.

Poor conduction and evaporation

If the container is made of something like wood, which is a poor conductor of heat (or cold), then a great part of the cooling will be caused by evaporation instead of conduction. This could be an important factor in explaining how hot water freezes faster than cold. For example, Mpemba used wooden buckets when he was making his ice cream and noticed the phenomenon.

Dissolved gasses
One more possible factor concerns that fact that water always contains dissolved gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. These impurities have the effect of lowering its freezing point. When water is heated, gases are driven out because their solubility in water is less at higher temperatures. Thus, when the hot water cools, it has less dissolved gas than water which was not heated, so it has a higher freezing point and freezes first.

Experimental conditions
Knowing the factors involved in freezing warm water, you can attempt to duplicate the Mpemba Effect. In any good experiment, you want to change only one variable and keep everything else to the same. You must also be able to determine when you achieved the outcome of the experiment.

Factors
Factors that must remain the same are:

The temperature of the freezer The amount of water in the container The size, shape and material of the container Any type of air motion over the water
The only thing you vary is the initial temperature of the water.

When frozen
A big problem is determining when the water is frozen. Mpemba was making ice cream when he made his discovery. He wasn't using a timer, but was observant enough to notice the difference in freezing time. You could use a thermometer or temperature probe in the water to see when the temperature near the bottom levels off at the freezing point. Then check often to determine when the water in the container is frozen. Perhaps a clear container would help.

Different starting temperatures

The best way to really test the theory is to perform the experiment at a number of different water temperatures. In this way, you could find the which warmer water temperature froze quicker than water at a cooler temperature. There may be other water temperatures for which the effect does not hold.

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There may be other water temperatures for which the effect does not hold. Of course, you could be lucky and pick the correct temperature ranges the first time.

Doing experiment
You can do the experiment using one or even several containers that you place in a freezer compartment.

In conclusion
With the Mpemba Effect, warm water can freeze faster than cold water, under certain conditions. Evaporation, conduction, convection and dissolved gases are possible reasons the effect works. You may have to try different configurations to verify this effect.

Pasted from <http://www.electronicsteacher.com/succeed-in-physical-science/heat-and-thermodynamics/the-mpemba-effec.php>

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20 August 2012 06:53

These heat properties of water make it make it conduct heat more readily than any other liquid (except Hg(l)). It also makes water extremely useful for cooling hot objects, warming cold objects and keeping the Earth at a relative constant temperature. For example if a blacksmith wants to cool down a hot piece of metal he dips it n water, it is the best chemical to do this. If you want to thaw out a piece of frozen meat, the best thing to do is put it in lukewarm water. Water in the atmosphere, whether as a vapour or as droplets or ice crystals in clouds, is Earth's principal greenhouse gas. Primarily because of water in the atmosphere, Earth's surface temperature is elevated by about 33 Celsius degrees making for a habitable planet. According to Josh Willis, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the oceans absorb one thousand times more heat than the atmosphere (air) and are holding 80 to 90% of the heat of global warming.

An unusual property of ice frozen at atmospheric pressure is that the solid is approximately 8.3% less dense than liquid water. The density of ice is 0.9167 g/cm at 0 C, whereas water has a density of 0.9998 g/cm at the same temperature. Liquid water is densest, essentially 1.00 g/cm, at 4 C and becomes less dense as the water molecules begin to form the hexagonal crystals[2] of ice as the freezing point is reached. This is due to hydrogen bonding dominating the intermolecular forces, which results in a packing of molecules less compact in the solid. Density of ice increases slightly with decreasing temperature and has a value of 0.9340 g/cm at 180 C (93 K).[3 The effect of expansion during freezing can be dramatic, and is a basic cause of freezethaw weathering of rock in nature. It is also a common cause of the flooding of houses when water pipes burst due to the pressure of expanding water when it freezes, then leak water after thawing.

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