For me, cold water freezes faster
A common wisdom among owners of outdoor animals is that hot water freezes faster than cold, hence in the winter do not put hot water in the buckets.
I put about a cup of water into two mason jars, one with hot water, the other with room temp. Bring those out to the shed. Drop in a K-type thermocouple into each. The outdoor temp was about -9C.
Seems to me very clear that cool water freezes first.
My buddies poked all kinds of holes in my quick-and-dirty test, so I will be repeating in a few days when the temp will be well below zero again.
The softening effect of water
Instead of re-running everything, I decided to leave one thermocouple in water, and let the other one sit in the open air, Figure 3. I was surprised how much a cup of water could smooth out temperature fluctuations.
The green line is the water, the yellow line is the air. Very evident that water, even one cup, serves to smooth out temperature variations. I made some annotations below, Figure 4. Section “A” is fascinating that the water temp (green) stays so constant at 0C for days while the air temp fluctuates. The two sections marked “B” are notable because eventually the water freezes, then the ice follows the ambient temperature.
January, and why do most mammals stay in bed
The sap lies under the ground, the insects are hibernating, the birds are somewhere South, the mouse and badger are nowhere to be seen because they are snuggling in their burrows. Only the humans run about. I feel the strain in myself and in those around me. Can we not rest? Can we not take a few weeks and do nothing except stroke each other’s fur? Could we make no profit, release no product updates, start no new wars? Apparently not. We push and push. Or maybe better to say we are pushed and pushed. That elusive passive verb tense that common English lacks. Are we driving or are we driven?
I think on the many ponds and rivers, and their ice, and how the variations in temperature are smoothed out. Sleep tight.