In article <[log in to unmask]>,
Karl - Saratoga CSR - x4226 <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>        Alright, maybe this has absolutely NOTHING to do with
>        college hockey, but a bigger collection of science nuts
>        I'll never find, so here goes...
>
>        "What freezes faster, hot water or cold water?"
>
>        and just as importantly...
>
>        "Why?"
>
>        I just got off the phone with the Zamboni guy at the local
>        rink, and he says they fill the Zamboni with hot water because
>        "it's supposed to freeze faster."
>
>        Please e-mail me privately, and if anybody else wants to
>        know, I can post the answer to the group.
 
The zamboni guy is correct.  Hot water will freeze faster.  But that's not
why they use hot water in a zamboni.  They use it because when the hot
water hits the ice surface, it will melt the ice below it, therfore when
it refreezes the ice will be continuous from the bottom to top.
 
If you used cold water, it would freeze on top of the current ice but would
not be bonded with it, so you'd have a sheet of ice on top of another sheet.
The ice would not be as strong and would crack when skated upon.
 
As to the hot water freezeing faster, it does.  It's due to the marvelous,
wonderous thing called evaporation.  Think about it.
 
Kurt Stutt
[log in to unmask]
 
BS Physics, RPI '89