naure.com
ScienceSurprise 4/5Difficulty 3/5Reviewed on September 17, 2026

Hot water freezes faster than cold water under certain conditions.

Why it is true

This counterintuitive phenomenon is known as the Mpemba effect. There is no single universally accepted explanation, but factors like rapid evaporation, convection currents, and the presence of dissolved gases seem to play a crucial role.

Source: Scientific American

Would you rather be asked first?

This is the reading side of the site, so the answer is in the sentence above — that is the whole point of it. Test yourself works the other way round: the question comes on its own, and the fact and the explanation only appear once you have answered.

Test yourself →10-question challenge

Related facts

More in Science

See all →