Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Ice making drinks cold

I used to think it was the ice that made drinks cold. However, what is actually happening is that the ice draws the heat out of the water which causes the ice to melt. It is the melting of the ice and not the ice itself that causes the drink to get colder.

The same is true of the melting ice in glaciers in mountains and towards the north and south poles. However, after all the ice melts the heat really becomes a problem because there is nothing left to cool the water in the north then. Also, white (the color of ice) reflects the sun whereas the blue water (when ice melts) absorbs the sunlight which heats the water even more. So, basically as the ice melts to the north of us the blue water supercharges the sun and heats the water really fast to higher and higher temperatures when the sun is out which also causes more ice to melt more quickly and the cycle repeats itself.

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