Does hot water freeze faster than cold water?

[Rev]

This has been bounced around since I was in college and I graduated in '67, LOL. It really is an old wive's tale but like many others, it has a grain of truth.

If all the conditions are the same, the cooler water will freeze faster every time. If a container of slightly warm water is placed in a freezer, the first thing that happens is a slight melting of the frost coat lining the freezer. This rapidly refreezes making a very good conduction bond to the container of warmer water. A container of cold water wouldn't make that improved conduction bond. Rbatson alluded to this "improved conduction" circumstance in the beer in the refrigerated air vs. beer in the freezing water analagy.

The improved conduction to the warmer water container is said to overcome the time difference required to freeze the warmer water and therefore feeze the warmer water first.

I've never heard anyone quantify the temperature difference in any argument. Obviously we're not talking about near boiling water versus near freezing water.

At any rate, this is how I've heard this postulation explained.

Rev