Reply to Burridge & Linden: Hot water may freeze sooner than cold

Abstract

In a recent paper in Scientific Reports, Burridge \& Linden misinterpret the Mpemba effect as a statement about the rate of cooling of liquid water, when it is in fact a statement about the rate of freezing of water. Debunking an obviously absurd claim about cooling, they miss the significant effect, its only quantitative experimental study and a theoretical argument that explains the effect and predicts that it occurs only for "hard" water (water with significant dissolved Mg and Ca bicarbonates). This prediction remains to be tested.