Many have heard the "old wives tale" stating that if you put hot water into a freezer, it freezes in less time than it would have if it had been cold to start. Never did I believe such a claim, as it runs contrary to one of the basic laws of nature.

While surfing one day on sites illustrating "bad science" I actually found a plausible real life reason why this in fact can be true (read:not always true, but possible). Running this experiment under controlled conditions [eg. measure the same volumes of hot and cold water, make sure containers are equal in any relevant aspect (shape, material, conductance properties, covered or not etc.), and that the freezer is properly set to achieve a uniform temperature throughout], can you come up with a reasonable set of conditions for which the water in the hot container would freeze before the water in the cold container?

A container that was spherical wouldn't freeze as quickly as a flat, thin container due to more surface area. Also, different insulating materials could be used. If one container was pressurized enough, it could prevent/slow the water from freezing. The contents of the water (salt, disolved gases, etc) could change freezing rates. However, if everything besides temperature is the same, the cold would freeze first. Just my thoughts, I'm sure I left out some variables.

Posted by Ryan on 2003-05-11 21:26:41