Our hosts for Nature Friday LLB Gang
At 8pm Saturday, January 24, a bit of snow and sleet started to fall. This is not snow. About 11 pm it turned in to all it is a combination of freezing rain and sleet
Photo taken at 8 am Sunday, January 25, 2026
As you saw on yesterday's post, we had a sleet/freezing rain/and a wee bit of snow event earlier this week. In case of a power outage, we had plenty of blankets and gas logs to stay warm; however, I was very concerned about NO coffee. I bought a TAL ranger pro thermos.
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Short answer is:
Water stays hotter than coffee in a thermos primarily due to a smaller temperature difference between the hot water and the ambient air, resulting in slower heat loss. Coffee is often served hotter and cools faster because heat loss, through conduction and radiation, is proportional to the difference in temperature, meaning the hotter liquid (coffee) loses heat more rapidly to the environment and oils in coffee make it cool faster.
Longer more scientific answers are at the end of the post.
Click here Hostess Miss Mimi
Flashback January 29, 2010
x+y=1bc
January 30, 2010
The answer to yesterday's puzzle
is below.MOL LOL BOL AND LOLTIME (laughing out loud tears in my eyes)
Longer answer to why water stays hotter than coffee in a thermos
- Temperature Difference (Delta T): Hotter liquids, like coffee, have a larger temperature difference with the surrounding air compared to warm water. According to thermodynamic principles, a higher temperature difference leads to a faster rate of heat transfer.
- Initial Temperature and Thermal Mass: Coffee is typically brewed and poured at a higher temperature than water for tea or other uses, causing it to lose more energy over time.
- Thermal Conductivity and Insulation: While a thermos uses a vacuum layer to minimize conduction and convection, and reflective, silvered surfaces to reduce radiation, no insulation is perfect. The higher the temperature of the liquid, the faster the heat will eventually pass through this insulation.
that is a super termos gadget... you are well prepared... coffee is a kind of magic potion
ReplyDeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteSo, the answer is, only put hot water in the flask and make the tea/coffee fresh from that! Excellent info... and fun flashback! YAM xx
I learned something new (about coffee and insulated thermoses) and it's only 5 AM my time! 😆
ReplyDeleteAngel Madi, I much prefer your kind of math! Numbers make my eyes cross and my brain shut down...and yet, I work in a data analysis office! Oh, the irony!
At least you now know to put only hot water in the thermos and make the coffee fresh when you need it.
ReplyDeleteGun geometry equation! I was always quite good at all maths, but looked at it and thought "What?"
The answer is a bit complex for my brain. The only thing that I could comprehend was the coffee was not hot like it was supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thing about coffee and the thermos. I don't drink coffee so I guess I just won't worry about it. But I would like to have hot water so I can make some tea later. Hopefully you won't have any power outages to deal with. And your sweet angel, I think she knew the answer to everything if you could just get her to tell you.
ReplyDeleteWe are super lucky as Mom doesn't like any hot beverages, not hot chocolate, tea, or coffee. She likes ice water, or diet coke with ice so in the winter, no problem, in the summer we need a lot of ice, LOL! Hope your power never goes out so your Mom can have her coffee.
ReplyDeleteWho knew all of those facts about a thermos. I hope you never lose your power and we loved the Madi flashback!
ReplyDeleteI barely made it through math in school.
ReplyDeleteIt was an issue when I took my college SAT🙄 Jerry knows his thermoses. He doesn't go anywhere without coffee. Madi's flashback is fun!
Brrrrrrr.....the first photo made me chilly! I found a insulated cup that keeps my coffee warm most of the morning....luckily, ArCe sits next to the house with her generator so if we lose power I can make coffee in her BOL!
ReplyDeleteI love Madi Math. Ed is excellent at Math, but I am a strong believer that numbers and letters should not be mixed ;-)
hugs,
Beth and the girls
Madi Math is great ~ great winter photo too ~ glad you are warm and cozy ~ hugs,
ReplyDeleteHugs to you Cecilia and Angel Madi ~ xo
I hope you didn't need to worry about the coffee because you didn't loose power. We're buried deep in snow and it's not going to melt any time soon.
ReplyDeleteOh Man! Not to even be able to make a Coffee Run...NIGHTMARE!!!
ReplyDeleteYou could get a camping stove, put in a well ventilated open area (Like your deck, yes even in the cold it will work), and make coffee with that, and anything else that you might want. We have a kerosene heater with a flat top that we can use to cook things...years ago my mother did exactly that, there was electrical work being done in the house, and when the work was done, she offered hot soup to the workers!! (You could also heat water with one of those canned heat tins used in buffet servers...)
ReplyDeleteDang, that's too bad about the not quite hot coffee, I'd be disappointed too! Snow Watch is active!
ReplyDeleteThe equation befuddled me and I'm sorry your coffee plan didn't quite quite work out. I like tea, so it sounds like that would work with hot water to add to a tea bag. May neither of us need to use it!
ReplyDeleteGracious but it does look cold there! Thanks for the fun equation with Madi, I'm sure she did keep you busy. Thank you also for linking up with Feline Friday.
ReplyDeleteI will take all our snow over ice any day. Cute flashback of Angel Madi. XO
ReplyDelete