Why is it necessary to wipe ice cubes with a towel before immersing them in water?

Question

in relation to physics--heat of fusion

Answer 1

I have never heard that you need to wipe ice cubes before immersing in water. I've certainly never done this, why would it help?

Answer 2

to remove the water from the surface of the ice.

Because you are measuring the heat of fusion then you want the weight added of solid ice(you work that out at the end by weighing the water after the experiment).

Heat of fusion is the energy to convert a mass between solid and liquid. by including the water on the surface of the ice then you are including some ice that has already undergone this change... ultimately you want the ice to only undergo this change in the experiment, not before.

If you dont wipe it then your experiment will not be good because you are adding some water rather than pure ice. You only want to add ice... not water.

Answer 3

because ice is so scared of water, they c**p themselves