In severe frost, boiling water freezes instantly. Knowing this, people create winter fireworks. VIDEO
On frosty days, you can independently verify an interesting and paradoxical phenomenon — hot water freezes faster than cold water. This is the so-called Mpemba effect, notes the Telegram channel nadvorie, and the publication "Zerkalo" found an example online of a Belarusian woman practically demonstrating it against the backdrop of an architectural monument.
Experiment with boiling water near the church in Gervyaty, Astravets district. January 2026. Screenshot: threads.com/@ka.minskaya
The name comes from the Tanzanian schoolboy Erasto Mpemba, who in the 1960s noticed while making ice cream that hot ice cream freezes faster than cold. In the case of boiling water, often the hot water completely evaporates before reaching the ground.
Despite its visual clarity, there are currently no precise scientific explanations for this. Hypotheses include:
- Hot water loses mass faster due to evaporation; a smaller volume is frozen, and the faster it evaporates, the faster it cools;
- Convection and mixing are more active in hot water, meaning heat dissipates faster;
- Cold water contains more dissolved gases, which can inhibit ice crystallization.
Belarusians are already conducting such experiments. Boiling water was brought, among other places, to the famous church in Gervyaty for this purpose.
"Frosts have arrived in Belarus. I poured boiling water — and a real winter fireworks show resulted," said one Threads user, demonstrating the effect.
https://www.threads.com/@annayakovitskaya/post/DTXg5gLDfSf?xmt=AQF0bxnD0UckwRe5LYyFQvK642Yr3VH0sFi4gKqwR8XbvQ
In the comments, however, not everyone approved of such experiments, seeing them as a danger to health:
"Good thing it's fireworks, and not a trip to the burn ward."
"Who are these people, consciously pouring boiling water over their heads? And then they look up to see if it worked."
"It's like with firecrackers. You can get burns to your face, eyes, head… But it certainly looks wow!"
"Literally last year I saw a video of a girl getting burns from such fireworks. One needs to think about what's beautiful and what's safe."
"Agreed, safety is more important. I tried it beforehand and did everything very carefully in severe frost. Thank you for your concern," replied the post's author to these comments.
Comments