http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CellularRespiration.html

My bad. I didn’t mean to imply that everything in a room is necessarily at the same temperature — anyone who’s lived in a drafty house would definitely know that — but on a second reading it does kinda sound like that. I was trying to say is how cold (or hot) we perceive an item to be isn’t strictly a function of it’s temperature, but a function of the flux of heat out of (or into) our skin as a result of contact. A waterbed at 70 F will feel colder (initially) than regular mattress at the temperature.

Sorry FireDude but that is an incorrect statement. If you were to measure various items in the room you would discover variances in the temperatures. The ceiling will always be warmer than the floor in a forced air heating/cooling arrangement. But despite the heating/cooling arrangement, windows and doors will also display variances in temperature. This also includes a variance in temperature from say a couch’s back facing an outside wall to the face of said same couch.

You can also measure temperature change in any wall from the floor up to the ceiling. Even measure changes from the center of the room towards any wall be it the ceiling or the floor. I myself have measured as much as a 15 degree change in a single room.

You can confirm this by using either an infrared-gun or thermo-gun.

Oh, and water beds always feel cold for that same reason that furniture or pots feel cold – they’re at the same temperature as everything else in the room, but they conduct heat better and thus you’ll initially lose heat to it faster than to the air around you.

Warm-blooded plants are neat. DI.

Welcome to the fun house, Tampagirl! :-)

Bill Nye likely did address this problem (I don’t get much chance to see him), but he should have said that the molecules are farther apart in hot substances. Water is exceptional in that regard, but only when comparing the densities of solid and liquid water. Warmer (liquid) water is indeed less dense than colder.

Radiatidon said: “As to that silly robot… what was that movie? L5 is alive? No… it called itself Johnny 5. Was the movie Short Circuit? Anyway as the robot kept saying “Input. Need more input!””

Short Circuit (and Short Circuit 2) it was indeed, sir, that featured Johnny 5 . Silly, but fun….

This would make a good mathematical/physics problem to kick around in one’s spare time.

“

I guess that’s what makes the Mpemba effect interesting I has been demonstrated but never really proven and explained fully.
I agree it seams silly to freeze hot water like even if it really did save you a minute in the freezing process. It’s an old wives tile that has some scientific backing.

Tampagirl thanks for the note about Bill Nye. I think I will look into his thoughts on this. Never be scared to post. Something simple to you may be very thought invoking and interesting to someone else. As that silly robot… what was that movie? L5 is alive? No… it called itself Johnny 5. Was the movie Short Circuit? Anyway as the robot kept saying “Input. Need more input!”