Word.ws English Dictionary

Mpemba effect

Mpemba effect proper noun: the supposed tendency of warmer (and/or previously warmed) liquids or colloids (especially water) to freeze more quickly than cooler ones under at least some conditions.

Proper noun

the Mpemba effect

  1. The supposed tendency of warmer (and/or previously warmed) liquids or colloids (especially water) to freeze more quickly than cooler ones under at least some conditions.
    • Scientists as yet have been unable to fully explain the mechanism behind the Mpemba effect. It is a combination of a variety of heat transfer methods, and those combinations change under different conditions of water and[…]2012, Elizabeth H. Oakes, Heat and Thermodynamics, Infobase Learning, →ISBN, page 38

Origin of Mpemba effect

Named after Tanzanian student Erasto Mpemba, who published on the topic in the 1960s.

Questions about Mpemba effect

What does Mpemba effect mean?
Mpemba effect means the supposed tendency of warmer (and/or previously warmed) liquids or colloids (especially water) to freeze more quickly than cooler ones under at least some conditions.
What part of speech is Mpemba effect?
Mpemba effect is a proper noun.

Words near Mpemba effect in the dictionary

  1. MPDGs
  2. MPDs
  3. MPE
  4. MPEG
  5. MPEGs
  6. Mpemba effect
  7. MPF
  8. mPFC
  9. MPFE
  10. mpg
  11. MPGs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Mpemba effect (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Mpemba effect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mpemba_effect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.