Unfiltered Story #32725

Sometime when I was about 6 or 7, I was playing in the bathtub and I had a couple cups. I filled one with hot water from the tap and another with cold. Why? Why not? Think of all the things small children do to amuse themselves at bath-time. I decided to try an experiment in the tub with cups of water. Wow! Awesome! Junior Scientist files the results for later.

Later.

8th grade science class. I think I frustrated my teacher. I always asked the questions she couldn’t answer. One day, she had a question for the class.

Teacher: Ok, class, I need a volunteer. [volunteer goes to the front of class] I have two cups. One has hot water, and one has cold water. Polyanna here is going to dip one finger in the hot water and one finger of her other and in the cold water. After a minute , which finger will feel colder? Let’s see a show of hands. Is it the finger dipped in the cold water?

[all hands but mine go up]

Teacher: Will it be the finger dipped in hot water?

[my hand goes up]

Teacher: Oh, well, ok. Let’s keep going. Pollyanna, put your fingers in the cup and take them out.

I think you can guess what I figured out in my bathtub when I was little. Yup. Now I’m a science geek. And if you missed this science experiment, the hot water evaporates faster and somewhat paradoxically cools the wet finger faster than does the cold water.