Why hot water freezes faster than cold water

There are many people who do not believe or doubt this phenomenon, but in fact, if placed under certain conditions, hot water will freeze faster than cold water.

This strange phenomenon has been discovered for a long time, but so far, scientists have yet to give a satisfactory explanation. How does hot water freeze faster than cold water when the temperature of cold water is closer to freezing temperature?

The phenomenon of fast freezing hot water is called "Mpemba effect". There are many experiments conducted but not always this effect appears and there is no convincing explanation.

Learn more about the Mpemba effect: Decipher the mystery of the Mpemba effect

One of the studies that attracted attention was the scientists from Nanjing University in China and the Men's Methodist University in Dallas. They give an explanation for this physical mystery: due to the strange properties in the connection between oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water molecules.

When simulating a cluster of water molecules on a computer, scientists found that the strength of hydrogen bonding depends on their position relative to nearby water molecules.

To freeze cold water, weak hydrogen bonds will have to be broken. For hot water, this process was carried out when boiling, when the temperature dropped rapidly and abruptly free molecules would combine into ice structure. This may explain why hot water is faster to freeze than cold water.

Meanwhile, many scientists also gave other research results on the Mpemba effect. But it is these results that make them wonder and crazy. Perhaps we have to wait for a while to get the correct answer to this strange physical phenomenon and the person who gives that answer is none other than scientists.