Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:27 pm
On its way to becoming frozen, doesn't hot water have to become cold at some point?
Let's say that one bottle has water at 80 degrees and the other contains 60 degree water. As the temperature gradient between the water bottle and the outside air decreases (the water gets colder), the rate of change in temperature decreases. So the time it takes to get from 80 degrees to 60 degrees is less than the time to get from 60 to 40. However, the total time to get from 80 to 0 is still more than the time to get from 60 to 0.
Let's say that one bottle has water at 80 degrees and the other contains 60 degree water. As the temperature gradient between the water bottle and the outside air decreases (the water gets colder), the rate of change in temperature decreases. So the time it takes to get from 80 degrees to 60 degrees is less than the time to get from 60 to 40. However, the total time to get from 80 to 0 is still more than the time to get from 60 to 0.