Is it true that water that has been previously boiled will boil faster than wate…

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Is it true that water that has been previously boiled will boil faster than water that hasn’t been boiled? — HE, Haddonfield, NJ

I don’t think so. The only effect that bringing water to a boil has on the water is to drive dissolved gases out of solution. Once the water returns to room temperature, it’s essentially the same as it was before it was heated to boiling, except that it contains very little dissolved air. It may be that this absence of dissolved air will allow the water to boil slightly faster the next time around, but I doubt that you’d be able to detect a difference.

In his Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, Joseph Black discussed his …

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In his Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, Joseph Black discussed his difficulty in understanding latent heat. He performed an experiment where water in a tube was brought below freezing without a phase change. The water remained in this equilibrium as long as the tube of water was not disturbed. When it was disturbed, the water instantly turned to ice, releasing enough heat to raise the temperature of the ice to 0° C. Please explain why the system remained in equilibrium until it was acted upon by some external motion. — EDH, Annapolis, MD

The water in Black’s tube was in an unstable equilibrium state known as supercooled water. Supercooled water tends to spontaneously convert into ice. When part of this supercooled water does convert to ice, it releases enough latent heat energy to raise its temperature and that of the remaining water to 0° C, thereby terminating the phase transition before all of the water has become ice.

But in the experiment you describe, the supercooled water was having trouble nucleating the initial seed ice crystal on which the remaining water could crystallize. Given enough time, that water would have spontaneously formed a seed crystal and the growth of the ice crystal would have proceeded rapidly after that. However, Black accelerated the formation of the seed crystal by shaking the tube. A defect at the surface of the tube or a piece of dust then acted as the trigger and helped the seed ice crystal form. The water then crystallized rapidly around this seed crystal. After the ice had formed, the water was truly in equilibrium.

What is the difference between internal and external combustion engines?

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What is the difference between internal and external combustion engines?

External combustion engines burn a fuel outside of the engine and produce a hot working fluid that then powers the engine. The classic example of an external combustion engine is a steam engine. Internal combustion engines burn fuel directly in the engine and use the fuel and the gases resulting from its combustion as the working fluid that powers the engine. An automobile engine is a fine example of an internal combustion engine.

How does the temperature of a fire correspond to its color. How hot is blue fire…

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How does the temperature of a fire correspond to its color. How hot is blue fire? How hot is yellow fire? — SF, Lake Almanor, CA

The hotter the fire, the more green and blue light it emits. The dimmest glow that you can see in a darkened room appears when a surface is about 400° C. The dull red of a heat lamp is about 500° C. A candle’s yellow glow is about 1700° C. A normal incandescent lamp is about 2500° C. And the sun is about 5800° C. Blue fire would be hotter still, except it’s usually colored artificially by the presence of excited atoms. Atomic emissions are colored because atoms can’t emit all colors in order to produce a normal spectrum of thermal radiation. Instead, they preferentially emit only specific colors. That’s why when you burn copper, you see blue-green light, even when the copper isn’t very hot. The copper atoms just can’t emit red or yellow light, even though those would be the more appropriate colors at the temperature of the burning copper.

If you have four carts of equal weights, one with small wheels, one with large w…

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If you have four carts of equal weights, one with small wheels, one with large wheels, one with small wheels in front and large wheels in back, and one with large wheels in front and small wheels in back, which cart will be easiest to move? — PK

The cart with the small wheels will be easiest to move. That’s because, as the cart starts moving, each kilogram of mass in the wheels acquires twice as much energy as each kilogram of mass in the cart itself. Keeping the mass of the wheels low by making the wheels small reduces the energy in the overall cart and makes it easier to start or stop.

When an object is free falling, I understand that the earth’s gravity causes its…

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When an object is free falling, I understand that the earth’s gravity causes its velocity to increase at 10 meters/second2 in the downward direction. Is there a point at which this object would reach a “terminal velocity” in the earth’s atmosphere and cease to accelerate? — CS, Sykesville, MD

Yes, most objects will reach a terminal velocity and stop accelerating downward. The faster an object drops, the more air resistance it experiences. This air resistance pushes the object upward and at least partially cancels the downward force of gravity—the object’s weight. When the object’s downward speed becomes high enough, the upward air resistance force exactly cancels the object’s downward weight. At that point, the object experiences zero net force and it no longer accelerates. Instead, it descends at a constant downward velocity—its terminal velocity. This terminal velocity is determined partly by the object’s density and size and partly by its aerodynamics. Large, dense, and aerodynamic objects tend to have very large terminal velocities while small, low-density, non-aerodynamic objects tend to have very small terminal velocities.

When raisins are added to a solution containing water, baking soda, and vinegar,…

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When raisins are added to a solution containing water, baking soda, and vinegar, why do the raisins dance? — RE, Troy, IL

Baking soda and vinegar react in water to release carbon dioxide molecules. If the chemicals are sufficiently dilute in the water, the carbon dioxide molecules may remain dissolved in the water almost indefinitely. But when the water has impurities in it, the carbon dioxide molecules tend to come out of solution as gas bubbles at those impurities. The impurities allow the molecules to form tiny gas bubbles—a process called nucleation. In the present case, the raisins serve as the impurities that nucleate gas bubbles. As the gas bubbles grow on the surfaces of the raisins, the raisins experience upward buoyant forces from the surrounding water. The bubbles float upward, carrying the raisins with them and causing the raisins “to dance.”

I’ve heard that, technically speaking, our atmosphere is a fluid. Can you discus…

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I’ve heard that, technically speaking, our atmosphere is a fluid. Can you discuss this?

Since both gases and liquids are fluids, the earth’s atmosphere is certainly a fluid. Any material that flows in response to sheer stress (tearing) is considered a fluid. The earth’s atmosphere flows in responses to sheer stress—for example when you drive your car past another car, the air in between experiences this tearing and it flows in a complicated fashion. Winds are another important example of fluid flow in the earth’s atmosphere.

Can you suggest an experiment to prove that a helium balloon floats because heli…

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Can you suggest an experiment to prove that a helium balloon floats because helium is lighter than oxygen? — CR

If you have a balance scale, you can do a series of comparisons. First compare a cup of water to a cup of salad oil, using the balance, to show that the salad oil is less dense than the water. Then show that the salad oil floats on water. Then compare an air-filled balloon to an identical helium balloon, using the balance, to show that the helium is less dense than air. Then show that the helium floats on air. It’s just like the salad oil on water, but now it’s the helium on air. You can’t simply pour the helium on the air to show that it floats, because they’ll mix. So you leave the helium wrapped up in a rubber balloon and then let it float on air. It floats just fine!

What is ink made of?

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What is ink made of? — JD, Langley, British Columbia

Ink is made of light absorbing pigment particles or dye molecules that are suspended in a fluid that contains a dissolved binder chemical. When the ink is deposited on a sheet of paper, the binder’s solvent diffuses into the paper or evaporates into the air, leaving the pigment particles or dye molecules bound to the paper by the binder.