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Hot vs. Cold Water: Boiling Experiment

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to find out whether hot water or cold water will start to boil first if heated under the same conditions.

Hypothesis: Common sense would yield that the hotter the water, the quicker it should boil, because it is already closer to the boiling point, but the hypothesis of this experiment will stray away from such nonsense and contend that the colder water will boil before the hot water, because the cold water will increase at a faster rate than the hot water, ultimately passing it up.

Equipment: This experiment will require a pot, a heat source (stove), a measuring cup, stopwatch, a cooling source (fridge), pen and paper, source to get hot and cold water, tea bag and coffee cup optional.

Procedure: The first step is to measure out three cups of water, and place in the refrigerator to chill. Then measure out 3 cups of hot tap water and place in the pot and turn on the flame, while starting the stopwatch. When boiling occurs, stop the watch, record the time. Dry the pot, and allow it to return to room temperature. Repeat same process once cold water has been allowed to chill, record results, and compare.

Observations:

Water Type Amount of Water Time Required to Boil
Hot Tap Water 3 Cups 3 minutes, 4 seconds
Cold Tap Water 3 Cups 4 minutes, 17 seconds

Room temperature was at 69 degrees Fahrenheit, and the barometer was registering 30.21 inches.

Conclusion: The experiment has shown that common sense once again prevails, and hot water boils much-much quicker than cold water.

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