Hi fredhabbib20,
Generally, ice melts faster in water than in air.
Q: Why does ice melt faster in water, than in air?
"A: First we need to know why ice melts. Ice is made up of molecules.
The molecules of ice are cold, so they don't have enough energy to
move around, they stick to each other.
We can give the molecules in the ice enough energy to move around, or
melt, if we bump other molecules into them, like from warm air or
water.
Air is a gas, and so the molecules that make up air are very spread
out. So air has fewer molecules to bump into the ice than water does.
Water can melt the ice faster because it can bump more molecules into
the ice to warm it up."
Melting Ice: Air versus Water
http://van.hep.uiuc.edu/van/qa/section/States_of_Matter_and_Energy/Melting_and_Freezing/20020122095746.htm
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Does ice melt faster in air or in water?
"Ice will melt fastest in whatever delivers heat to it fastest. In
general that will be water because water conducts heat and carries
heat better than air. But extremely hot air, such as that from a
torch, will beat out very cold water, such as ice water, in melting
the ice."
How things Work
http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/water_steam_ice.html
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Why does ice melt faster in water than it does in air?
"Air is in gaseous phase whereas water is in liquid (condense) phase.
The number of water molecules surrounding the ice is much greater than
the number of air molecules surrounding the ice. When ice melts, heat
has to be absorbed from the surrounding particles in contact with it.
Since there are more water molecules that could provide more heat, ice
would melt faster when it is put in water, assuming that the
temperature of water is the same as that of the air."
Singapore Science Centre
http://www.science.edu.sg/ssc/detailed.jsp?artid=2493&type=6&root=5&parent=5&cat=60
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Question:
Why does ice melt faster in water (at room temp.) than in air?
Answer:
"Keep in mind that temperature is the average kinetic energy of the
particles in a substance, whereas heat is the total energy of all the
particles. The air and water may have particles moving the same
speeds, but the water has more heat because there are more particles.
Picture it this way. The ice melts as fast moving particles slam into
the slow moving ice particles. As in any collision, some of the energy
is transferred to the ice particle, and with its new energy it can
break out of the crystal and flow as a liquid water molecule.
To make the ice melt faster, you can use hotter (faster moving)
particles to slam into it. This is why the ice melts faster on a hot
day than a cold one. Alternatively, you can just use more collisions.
The water is much more dense than the air, with many more particles
per cubic millimeter. Thus even though the water molecules have the
same kinetic energy as the air particles, there are many more of them
hitting the ice each second, and the ice melts faster."
PhysLink
http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae450.cfm
Search criteria:
ice melt faster air or water
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Rainbow |
