I just solved a 35-year old mystery (well, at least it was a mystery to me)! Back in my college days a friend told me that ice cubes freeze faster if they are made with hot water. I believed him, but it just didn’t make sense to me—the freezing process involves cooling the water down, so why would you start with hot water? Well, I found a paragraph in a book (Mysteries of Liquids by Dr. Myles Bader) about that very subject.
It said:
Even though cold water is closer to the freezing point, the hot water evaporates faster, leaving less water to freeze. The evaporation also creates an air current over the ice cube tray, which tends to actually blow on the water, similar to the cooling effect when you blow on a spoonful of hot soup before tasting it.
So, there you have it: make your ice cubes with hot water!
Now I have another thing checked off my list of problems to solve! -Mom
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