'You won't melt in the rain'

[MrsBadger]

Of course you won't.

Melting is what happens when things get hot.

When things get wet and disappear it's called dissolving.

bY THAT ARGUMENT, DOES CHOCOLATE MELT OR DISSOLVE IN YOUR MOUTH?

You're on fine form, MrsB.

I do say to my kids that they won't melt in the rain . But at least I don't say the full saying I was raised with: 'you're not made of sugar, and shit don't melt'.

Good god my parents were rubbish.

colditz chocolate melts in your mouth - it goes runny because it's warm, not because it's wet.

NQC that is fairly poor

Yes, rather.

It was said affectionately. By my less-mad parent.

I do tell my kids they're not made of sugar, and won't melt. I'll start saying dissolve, now, ok?

Well technically, 'melting' refers only to the process through which a solid is transformed into a liquid typically by the application of heat but actually by any process which increases the level of atomic activity in the solid.

Equally, on a colloquial basis, we're generally quite comfortable using phrases like "the crowd melted away" or "a melting pot" to suggest the slow disappearance or transformation of an object/ objects so from a colloquial perspective, the phrase would make sense.

I should get out more, huh.

What about the Wicked Witch of the West - didn't she melt when Dorothy chucked a bucket of water over her? ("I'm melting, I'm melting!")

But I agree, I say dissolve.

Mine used to say that too. "You're not a sugar-baby. You won't melt."

I tell my kids they aren't 'water-soluble'/ aren't going to 'dissolve' - but as they are 2 and 3 they don't really understand.

Do I get a prize?

But cestlavie the rain thing is specifically about the action of water - comparing it to 'the crowd melted away' or 'a melting-pot' doesn't hold up.
Crowds melt away like snow, melting-pots are what you get when you put lots of separate components together and warm them up.

And the Wicked Witch of the West was wrong. I judge her [gavel]. Unless she was (eg) made of ice that would melt under a deluge of room-temperature water...

castille... maybe it was boiling water !

[awards prize to bigmouth]

Can I be Uber pedant?

Not everything melts when it gets 'hot'.

Some things melt and evaporate well below room temperature.

Melting is what happens when things reach their melting point. And for some things this would be at ambient temperatures that we would consider very cold indeed!

I think that should have read 'May I be an uber pedant?'

yes yes MB

I was trying not to get too scientific about this

[watches CO2 subliming over the edges of her ice bucket]

Can I have a prize for knowing that when something transforms directly from a solid to a gas without going through the liquid stage, it is called subliming

Damn you Mrs Badger and your speedy typing! I am bandaged from fingertips to elbow on one side.

no, anorak, because I posted it three minutes before you did

I drive the kids mad over this sort of stuff. Poor dd once said, 'shut the window, you'll let the cold in'.

the 10 minute mini lesson rather made her wish she hadn't!

oh I know

DH (physics) and I had a v involved conversation about specific heat capacity after watching some chef serve food on marble tiles on the Great British menu.

So were the marble tiles a good idea or not? Please don't let me regret asking this

crap idea

you'd have to heat them up severely first to stop the food getting cold on the way to the table, and they'd stay hot for ages afterwards

Oh dear - I'm guilty of the 'you won't melt in the rain' comment. But no longer. My children will be chided in a scientifically correct way henceforwards.

(Just had to look up 'chide' in the dictionary - looks like 'chided' is OK, but 'chid' or 'chode', or maybe 'chidden' is what I really need).