A blacksmith wishes to cool his hot piece of steel as rapidly as possible. He has a bucket of ice-water and a bucket of oil (at room temperature). Which bucket should he dump his steel into?

bucket 'o oil. Assuming both buckets sizes and quantities of water/oil are the same, the oil should not be as effected by the heat as quickly as the ice water.

There's no mention as to the type of oil, but I'm thinking heavy motor oil. I think if you use a lighter oil (like for cooking) the times might be closer.

Posted by jude on 2003-04-01 04:11:22