What's With the Carets (^) at the End of Every Thread Title?

Vanity | 9 July 2002 | Self

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

My browser, IE 6.0, displays a caret, "^", at the end of every thread title on the "http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/browse" page.

[HairOfTheDog]

LOL - That was very funny!

______________________________

Found an anomaly in the water question:

Dear Cecil:

Just a few days after I read your column on whether hot water freezes faster than cold water (you said it didn't), I happened to come across an article in Scientific American entitled "Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold Water. Why Does It Do So?" What gives? I hope we will see another column soon resolving the issue. --Ellen C., Chicago

Dear Ellen:

I know it must unnerve you to find that a supposedly infallible source of wisdom can make mistakes, so let me hasten to reassure you: Scientific American did not screw up. My results and theirs (specifically, those of Jearl Walker, author of SA's "Amateur Scientist" column) are consistent--we were just working in different temperature ranges.

I found that cold water (38 degrees Fahrenheit) froze faster than hot water out of the tap (125 degrees F). I chose these two temperatures because (1) they were pretty much what the average amateur ice-cube maker would have readily available and (2) I couldn't find a mercury thermometer that went higher than 125 degrees.

Jearl, who is not afflicted with penny-pinching editors like some of the rest of us, was able to get his mitts on a thermocouple that could measure as high as the boiling point, 212 degrees F. He found that water heated to, say, 195 degrees would freeze three to ten minutes faster than water at 140-175 degrees. (There were differences depending on how much water was used, where the thermocouple was placed, and so on.)

Jearl suggested that the most likely explanation for this was evaporation: when water cools down from near boiling to the freezing point, as much as 16 percent evaporates away, compared to 7 percent for water at 160 degrees. The smaller the amount of water, of course, the faster it freezes.

In addition, the water vapor carries away a certain amount of heat. To test this theory, Jearl covered his lab beaker with Saran Wrap to prevent water vapor from escaping. The freezing rate difference was greatly diminished. Conceivably convection (motion within the water) also plays a role.

[HairOfTheDog]

Even the thick comfy one with the horse embroidered on the top? - I do so miss that sock. It was a brand new pair, I think I only got to wear them once. Please tell me that one is OK!

[Young Werther]

Id that waskely wabbit wooking for some cawwots?

[Izzy Dunne]

Clearly, if hot water cooled faster, then at some point it would catch-up and when it actually got colder the cold water would cool faster!

Hot water will COOL faster, in terms of degrees per minute.
Put 40-degree water and 100-degree water into the same freezer (at say, 10 degrees air temperature).
After 10 minutes, the 100 degree water will have lost more degrees than the 40-degree water.
But the colder water has less "distance" to travel. And the cooling rate will slow down with temperature. So it will never catch up (until it freezes).

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Even the thick comfy one with the horse embroidered on the top? - I do so miss that sock. It was a brand new pair, I think I only got to wear them once. Please tell me that one is OK!


If you don't show, I'll send you his ear. I mean business.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Which is exactly what one would expect, is not counter intuitive and is trivally obvious, like saying that if Galileo had dropped two identical canon balls the one he released first would hit the ground first. DOH!

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh I will be there! - I love that sock!

[HairOfTheDog]

Have you read post 61 yet? there is a wrinkle.

[Flyer]

I have nothing to say on this topic. I just want to display my new puppy logo.

[HairOfTheDog]

I love your new puppy logo!

[Flyer]

Thanks! I had a couple of request from other Houston Chapter members for a personal logo - so hey, why not me too?

[another cricket]

Where are all my missing socks?

Many people assume that they are eaten by the washing machine. They are wrong. The dryer is actually a doorway to another dimension called "Somewhere". The spinning actions caused a small hole to develop between the two dimensions and things slip back and forth.

a.cricket

[HairOfTheDog]

I suspected it was the dryer.

Can I use duct tape on it?

Or would caulk be better?

[HairOfTheDog]

It is beautiful... I think I shall make one for myself one day!

[Consort]

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Yes, it was. Heat of evaporation of water is 540 calories per gram. The specific heat of water is, by definition, one calorie per gram per degree Celsius. So one gram of water evaporating will remove enough energy to cool 100 grams by 5.4 degrees Celsius. Still, once the "hot" water catches up, its hard to see how if ever passes the cooler water, unless being boiled removes (?) gases dissolved in the water, which would seem to violate Henry's Law.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Be quiet, you'll queer the pizzeria job on me, see. So what's the angle on this "someplace" job?

[humblegunner]

Yep. And I still don't see no steenkin' Carets.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I am just happy there was a wrinkle. I don't have to throw everything my teacher said out the window.

I am off now... Gotta raise some money!