If hot air goes up and cold air goes down, why does a horizontal freezer loses cold when opened?
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1. Hot air rising and cold air sinking is only true on average. It’s not like all the molecules arrange themselves in an orderly fashion from hot to cold. We’re talking about gases, so molecules are flying around and bumping into each other. The colder ones tend to settle at the bottom, but it’s not like the air inside the freezer doesn’t mix with the air above it at all. It just doesn’t mix very fast. Also, by opening the lid, you are creating air currents that will speed up the mixing of air initially.
2. Even if the air from the freezer didn’t mix with the air above it, the air molecules are still bumping into each other. Every time a warmer molecule bumps into a colder one, some heat energy goes from the warmer to the colder molecule. So over time, heat from above the freezer is transferred down into the freezer. This happens even with the lid closed, but the lid and walls of the freezer are made of insulating material, which slows down the transfer of heat.
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