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 Message 22290 of 22774 in Behind the Bar
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Subject: Re: Melting ice
From: apetail
Posted: Wed Jun 16. 2010, 12:37 UTC
Followup to: "Melting ice"  by Jennifer223  (Wed Jun 16. 2010, 02:09 UTC)
> Today, my boss saw me making a bloody mary and said I put too much 
> vodka in.  I used a standard four count, and I'm fairly confident 
> that it was not overpoured, but the glass, a highball type glass, 
> looked like it was half full of vodka.  I contend that the ice melted 
> when the vodka was poured over it, and what she saw was actually half 
> water.  She made me measure water with a jigger and pour it over ice 
> in the glass, which did nothing to prove my case. Am I right that the 
> ice melts faster when alcohol is poured versus water?  Somebody help. 
>  She's called a meeting tomorrow, and I know overpouring is number 
> one on her agenda.

I've once joined a discussion about the temperature of a shaker not going much 
below zero because the ice and content would be at thermal equilibrium at that 
point. I failed big time causing me a lot of shame. Thermal equilibrium is a 
true condition but it is only a necessary condition and not a sufficient 
condition to prevent melting. 

The ethanol has a strong effect in making the ice melt a lot more. Ice can be 
melted in two ways. The most common is heat change but it can also be melted 
by a concentration gradient. Ice is a solid which dissolves in ethanol much 
like sugar dissolves in water or like any other solid can be dissolved in a 
liquid. However, in the case of pure (water) ice in pure (liquid) water, 
dissolving doesn't work because there is no concentration gradient (it's all 
the same type of molecules). Only heat will be able to considerably dissolve 
the ice cube in that case.

-- 
"Question everything..."


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