if I leave bowls of water/ice around the house?

Question

will it lower the temperature of the air? I know that areas of land around large bodies of water stay cooler, simply because water can absorb large amounts of heat without changing temperature. So by leaving bowls of water around the house in the morning, will this decrease the temperature in the house significantly later in the day, as it heats up?
I know there are probably calculations I could do as well, if anyone knows them....
thanks!

Answer 1

Well, not really. The reason large bodies of water effect temperature is this. A large body of water takes an extremely long time to change temperature. So, during the winter, the body of water is still warm from the summer. This gives of heat and makes the cold milder than it would be. Eventually, the water cools down though. By then, it is summer, so now the opposite happens. The large body of water cools the area down but eventually the water will heat up. By then it is winter again. The cycle repeats.

Placing the bowls around the house will initially cool it down if the water is colder than the environment. However, the water will quickly rise to the temperature of the room, at which point no benefit is gained.

Answer 2

You don't need calculations; all you need is a thermometer.

The laws of thermodynamics states that a heat source will always be transferred to a cold "sink", not the other way around.

You might think that something cold would make a room cooler, but, that won't happen: the ambient (presumably higher) temperature will raise the temperature of the ice (of course, if the ambient temp is colder than the ice, then the ice would remain solid).

The biggest "enclosures" we may use as an example of this are the North and South Poles! The icebergs are melting because the ambient temperature of the Earth is rising. If the reverse were true, then we would still be in the Ice Ages (oddly enough, it requires polar ice to melt in order to enter a so-called Ice Age, which is not merely the "freezing" of the planet, but the movement of glaciers across the planet, which wouldn't happen if the ice were "locked" by cold temps!).

When you feel "cold" (ah-choo!), such as when you walk from inside a warm building into a wintry setting, it isn't because the outside is "cold"; it's because your body is losing heat to that colder environment. Assuming an enclosed system, once that "cold" something warms up, your body will lose less heat, and you will feel warmer.

Thus, the only effect that your little experiment will have, will be an increase, albeit a slight one, in the ambient *humidity* in the house!

The links below are very sophisticated, and may be above the comprehension of most people (but, read 'em, anyway! you just might feel smarter!).

Of course, all this talk about "cold" is making me want to put on a jacket! ;)

P.S. I hope you give me credit for doing your homework!

Answer 3

Keep in mind, If you take the ice from your "own" freezer, your doing yourself a DISFAVOUR. When you put in more "water" to make more ice cubes, The fridge's compressor will turn on, generating more heat, thus increasing the temperature of your home even more than the cooling results of the ice you just took out. It's kind of like running an air conditioner in the middle of your room, with no were to exhaust the heat.

Answer 4

OK, bowls of water in your house cannot be compared with large bodies of water, or the north or south poles. Bowls of water will add humidity to your living area, actually making it feel warmer, or wetter in your house eventually. Some people put bags of ice behind a fan. This provides a comfortable breeze only directly in front of the fan. In short...do not add moisture to your air to feel cooler.

Answer 5

sure it will but put a fan in front of it as well the air temperature will become lower as the heat is transfered to the melting ice

Answer 6

sure.. but its akin to puttin one cube on ice on a plate on your kitchen table and expecting the temp in your house to lower

Answer 7

not really enough surface I think. I trid it with stringing up wet bedlinens with their edges trailing in water and that worked( a little)

Answer 8

It will ture into water no mader if it is Hot or Cold in your house...





RESSE

Answer 9

I don't think it would cool much but it would put humidity in the house.

Answer 10

Can't you just turn on the air conditioner?