If a glass of water is mostly ice with some water, how come the water doesn’t freeze? Is it something to do with the conduction heat transfer between the air and the glass of water? Im assuming that the water would freeze in a vacuum.
In: 0
Heat is an energy.
A system either has heat or it does not have heat.
We call a system that does not have heat “cold.” Especially when the surrounding temperature is higher and the object’s temperature is relatively lower.
When you pour water into the cracks.between ice, the water has more heat energy than the ice itself. This melts the surface of the ice.
As the ice steals heat from the water, it freezes the water on its surface.
Because the surface of the ice is both melting from gaining heat and freezing from having its heat stolen, a barrier of equilibrium is more or less formed on the surface of the ice where you have this layer that is constantly trying to melt and freeze at the same time.
So you have a layer thats hotter than the ice on the outside, melting. A transition layer where the temperature is likely ranging through freezing from not freezing, we’ll say 0 to 1C, and then a layer closest to the core of the cube where the ice is solid and anything from that point on is solid.
Since the surrounding air is then warmer than the water and your hand contacting the glass is warmer, heat energy moves from those heat sources and into the cup, then from the cup to the water to continue melting the surface that the core is trying to freeze.
Latest Answers