Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,

I'm doing a science fair project on the Mpemba effect and how boiling water affects it, but I couldn't get the Mpemba effect to occur. I have tried hot and room temp unboiled and boiled water in plastic and paper cups with the hot water at either 60C or 90C and the room temp water at around 20C. None of these have shown the Mpemba effect, and I need something I can test! I can't really change the temperature of the hot water that much, and I intend to keep the room temp water at around 20C. My next idea is trying larger plastic cups to see if the Mpemba effect occurs in them. Can you give me any suggestions for how to continue testing?

Thanks,
mglim

Hi mglim,

Have you tried following the procedure outlined in this Science Buddies idea?

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p032.shtml

Also, the Mpemba effect is very poorly understood--sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Check out the answer to "Why am I not seeing the Mpemba Effect?" and "What if my results do not match my hypothesis? What if I really can't see the Mpemba Effect?" in this FAQ:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... shtml#help