Stuff You Should Know Short Stuff: The Mpemba Effect
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Sep 3, 2025 Discover the enigmatic Mpemba effect, where hot water can freeze faster than cold, igniting curiosity and challenging scientific norms. Explore Erasto Mpemba's remarkable journey from student to scientific pioneer. Delve into historical references and skepticism surrounding this phenomenon, as well as the complexities of thermodynamics and the implications for science and technology. Through engaging anecdotes, uncover the intricate properties of temperature that lead to this fascinating paradox.
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Teen Who Noticed Hot Milk Froze First
- Erasto Mpemba, a Tanzanian teenager, noticed hot milk froze faster while making ice cream at school and kept asking teachers about it.
- He later worked with physicist Dennis Osborne and published a paper naming the phenomenon the Mpemba effect.
Why The Effect Feels Thermodynamically Wrong
- The Mpemba effect suggests hot liquids can freeze faster than cooler ones, which seems to contradict thermodynamics intuition.
- Temperature measures molecular motion, so faster-moving (hot) molecules should take longer to slow and freeze.
Experimental Inconsistency Points To Hidden Variables
- Experimental results are inconsistent: some labs reproduce the Mpemba effect and others do not, implying hidden variables.
- Disagreement about what