### The Mpemba Effect
The Mpemba effect is the observation that, under certain conditions, initially warm water freezes faster than initially cold water. Two students propose different explanations for this phenomenon.
Student 1
The Mpemba effect is caused by evaporation. When warm water is placed in a freezer, it evaporates rapidly. This evaporation reduces the total mass of the water sample. Because there is less mass of water remaining to be frozen, the remaining water freezes in less time than the cold water sample, which experiences negligible evaporation. The concentration of dissolved gases in the water has no influence on the freezing rate.
Student 2
The Mpemba effect is caused by dissolved gases. As water temperature increases, the solubility of gases decreases; thus, warm water contains a much lower concentration of dissolved gases than cold water. Dissolved gases lower the freezing point of water and inhibit convection currents that facilitate cooling. Therefore, the warm water freezes faster because it has fewer dissolved gases. The mass lost due to evaporation is too small to have any measurable effect on the freezing rate.
According to the passage, Student 1 and Student 2 disagree about the effect of which of the following factors on the freezing rate of the water?
- AThe chemical composition of the water molecules
- The reduction of water sample mass due to evaporationCevap
- CThe relationship between water temperature and gas solubility
- DThe initial temperature difference between the two water samples