FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for January 02, 2009

My mother made me wash her car on a frozen day with similar results.

Tigger, the joke is that he tried to wash the car and then the water froze.

He should bring hot water and through it on the car. But first he should start the car and drive off after he wet the car so when the water gets cold, it melts the rest of the ice. It always works for me and my sister.

Hot water actually freezes faster than cold; it has something to do with how fast the molecules are moving.

On a very cold day, you can throw hot water in the air and it will freeze in mid-air.

I tried that thing when you throw hot water on a cold day. It kinda worked

Actually, it’s not an urban myth. Hot water can freeze faster than cold water. Set wooden buckets (not metal!) of almost boiling water and room temperature water outside on a subfreezing day. Since the water cools mainly by evaporation, the hotter water will freeze first. If metal pails are used, then water cools by Newtonian heat transfer, and the colder will freeze first. See “The Freezing of Hot and Cold Water,” by G. S. Kell in the Am. Journal of Physics, vol 37, pg. 564 (1969).

So sciencey!