# Freezing point...... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezing-point/532619 "2010-03-16T03:33:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GayIthacan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@GayIthacan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GayIthacan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezing-point/532619/1 "2010-03-16T03:33:48Z")
You have a glass dish containing PURE WATER and a glass dish containing an ICE CUBE. You place both inside a container (at sea level) whose internal temperature is maintained at 32.0 degrees Fahrenheit. (The glass containers both are at 32.0 degrees Fahrenheit as well.) QUESTION: What will happen? ``` A. The WATER will FREEZE - the ICE CUBE will remain FROZEN. B. The WATER will FREEZE - the ICE CUBE will MELT. C. The WATER will REMAIN LIQUID - the ICE CUBE will remain FROZEN. D. The WATER will REMAIN LIQUID - the ICE CUBE will MELT. E. Both will eventually turn to a slushy slurry. ``` Please - if you can - cite actual physics and/or experimental results for your answer. THANKS!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezing-point/532619/2 "2010-03-16T03:36:11Z")
Does your physics teacher know that you are jobbing out your homework? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezing-point/532619/3 "2010-03-16T03:43:50Z")
If you have something that actually maintains the temperature, then it will get rid of the heat that the water contains, and the water will freeze. If you put them in a container that starts at 32 degrees, and is perfectly insulated (a physical impossibility), the water won’t freeze, because it contains enough heat to melt the ice, without freezing the water. Water has to give up “heat of fusion” to freeze, and ice has to gain it to thaw, but water doesn’t freeze until it’s given up ALL the heat of fusion, whereas ice begins to melt as soon as it starts to gain. Assuming you started with the same mass of water and ice, there will be enough heat in the box from the water to leave both the ice and the water with enough heat to both be liquid. If you google “heat of fusion”, you will probably find the mathematics to calculate that for yourself. It might take more than high school math, I don’t know. I majored in chemistry in college, and I don’t remember what I learned there, and what was covered in high school chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezing-point/532619/4 "2010-03-16T03:51:34Z")
[Moderating] Sorry, **Gaylthacan,** this is just a bit too obviously a school assignment, and we have a policy of not doing people’s homework for them. If you need some help in understanding some principles of physics, you can ask specific questions, but we’re not just going to do your work for you. See the General Questions Rules [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=466202) > [@](#): > > 1. No homework questions or requests for legal or medical advice We won’t help with your homework, and you can’t get reliable legal or medical advice here, either. I’m closing this. Colibri General Questions Moderator