Index Key:  PHY060
Author:     philip
Subject:    Why is drying dishes in warm water easier than...
Text:       Why is it easier to dry dishes washed in warm water then cold 
water?

Response #:  1 of 2
Author:      Sam Bowen
Text:        I believe it is due to the strong temperature dependence of the 
evaporation rate.  The warmer water molecules are more likely to leave the 
hotter object for the cooler air.



Response #:  2 of 2
Author:      Arthur Smith
Text:        Well, I guess I usually just let dishes dry in the dish 
drainer...  What happens when you dry them with a cloth is that you soak up 
almost all the water onto the cloth, but the cloth has trouble picking up that 
last little bit because you just got the cloth wet drying the dish.  So, 
whether the dish was washed in hot or cold water, if you wipe it once with a 
cloth, you will have a semi-wet cloth and a still-moist dish.  Now, if the 
water was quite hot, what you have just done is spread that hot water over 
quite a large surface area (the cloth, and the small amount remaining on the 
dish) and it can evaporate pretty fast.  Several wipes, and you are done, and 
the cloth still is not that wet.  But cold water is not going to evaporate 
just like that, and it may not even want to get into the air at all.  The 
other possible explanation, of course, is that cold water sticks to dishes 
better than hot water.