Janet Baraclough wrote:
> The message >
> from Julia Altshuler > contains these words:
>
>
>> Take an ordinary household glass. Fill it with ice cubes. Then fill it
>> with water. The temperature of the water is now exactly 32 degrees
>> Fahrenheit.
>
> Um, doesn't that depend what temperature the water was when you added it?
>

Within reason, no. That is, if the water you add is boiling, and
there's not much ice, the ice might all melt before you can get what
you want, which is a glass that's full of partially-melted ice
surrounded by water. Mostly, though, you just want to add some
water and stir things around until you've got a water/ice mixture.
Then you've got something that's the temperature that water
melts/freezes at, and that's a constant thing.

We won't go into the fact that temperature is *always* just an
average of how fast the molecules are speeding and bumping against
the thermometer. That's too much non-food geeking for one post.

Serene