Posted: Jun 26, 2012 3:14 pm
We know that Aristotle said: "All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind." We can be pretty sure he said: "One swallow does not make a summer." But we can hazard a guess that at some stage he would also have declared angrily: "This bloody ice thing is doing my head in."
The great Athenian polymath couldn't solve the mystery of why hot water sometimes freezes faster than cold water. He must have been annoyed to be defeated by what appears to be such a simple question.
But here we are, more than two thousand years later and we still don't know the answer to what has become known as the Mpemba effect. The moon has been walked upon, Mars has been explored, hearts transplanted – but that old chestnut of ice and hot water still baffles humankind.
The Royal Society of Chemistry has decided enough is enough. In an attempt to nail the matter once and for all, we're asking the public to come up with a convincing explanation of a phenomenon that defeated Aristotle, Francis Bacon and René Descartes. To win a £1,000 prize they will need to make a convincing case and employ some creative thinking.
From here.
I've never heard of this effect before, I will have to do some reading. Any thoughts from you clever people?