Sound of water

[Degenerate]

I am always interested at why hot water "sounds different to cold water. If you say have 1 cup of cold water and 1 of hot water, pour the hot water into a nother empty cup and do the same for the cold water (into another new cup), the sound the water makes is different. Surely, the temperature is the cause but anyone know why?

 

[daveshel]

my guess would be surface tension

 

[Peter]

As a long time competition swimmer, I must add that cold water also LOOKS different to warm water, in a subtle and suspicious way. After 20 years of jumping into every pool there is, you can tell it's going to be cold BEFORE you take the plunge. And that's just ten degrees up and down. I can't really define what it is, but subconsciously it's there.

 

[Shalmanese]

From perosnal experience, ice water just seems to be "thicker" than warm water. It could be surface tension or it could be a difference in density.

 

[Darkcirc]

If you remember from chemistry H2O has the rather odd property of 'fluffing' (technical word, I swear) up when hotter or colder than 'normal' (as in become less dense). The fact that is takes more extreme temperatures in one direction than to other to equal the change in density would allow for the 'heavy' ice water. This is an example, don't try it please. if you fill a glass container with room temperature water and place it in the freezer either the top will burst or the glass will shatter when it freezes. If you fill that same container with boiling water (right on the edge of the phase change[to a gas]) and place it in the freezer, with oven mitts of course) you stand a considerably better chance that the glass and/or top will NOT break when reaching the other end of the phase change (to a solid). The reason? The hot water is less dense than the cold, so as it approches the temp of the room temp water it contracts, and then expands, presumeably to the volume it had when it was hot, plus or minus a little when it freezes. And that my friends is shy water sounds different.
dc

 

[m0ti]

I'd add on viscosity.

Cooler things are more viscous than warm things. The water probably stays more together (yes, causing greater surface tension, too) when cold than when hot.

 

[Evadman]

Water is densest at 4 degrees C.

 

[blahblah99]

I'm guessing it has to do something with the density of water... as we all know the density of an object affects how sound propogates through it.

And hot water is less dense than cold water.

 

[Degenerate]

SOUNDS good. thanks people

 

[Shalmanese]

Originally posted by: Darkcirc
If you remember from chemistry H2O has the rather odd property of 'fluffing' (technical word, I swear) up when hotter or colder than 'normal' (as in become less dense). The fact that is takes more extreme temperatures in one direction than to other to equal the change in density would allow for the 'heavy' ice water. This is an example, don't try it please. if you fill a glass container with room temperature water and place it in the freezer either the top will burst or the glass will shatter when it freezes. If you fill that same container with boiling water (right on the edge of the phase change[to a gas]) and place it in the freezer, with oven mitts of course) you stand a considerably better chance that the glass and/or top will NOT break when reaching the other end of the phase change (to a solid). The reason? The hot water is less dense than the cold, so as it approches the temp of the room temp water it contracts, and then expands, presumeably to the volume it had when it was hot, plus or minus a little when it freezes. And that my friends is shy water sounds different.
dc

Just because water DOES become less dense doesnt mean that it is the SOLE reason or even the PRIMARY reason for why it sounds different. I would be interested in a comparison between hot/cold salt water compared with fresh water to see how the different factors relate to each other.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

is it just me or does cold and hot water FEEL different too?

 

[ReiAyanami]

liquifyed water is the most dangerous


the hills are alive with the sound of water...