[lit-ideas] Re: It's not the heat, it's the heat

 

It's so nice to be vindicated.  And in tandem w/ someone holding  an opposing 
position.
 
Robert -- could you use your Talent to vaildate the various factions in the  
ME?
 
And where did you learn so much about physiology?  You're supposed to  be a 
philosopher who doesn't believe in such mundane things.
 
Julie Krueger

========Original  Message========     Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: It's not the 
heat, it's the heat  Date: 7/29/06 11:40:44 PM Central Daylight Time  From: 
_rpaul@xxxxxxxxx (mailto:rpaul@xxxxxxxx)   To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent on:    
Carol quotes Julie

>  >It's not  the heat it's the humidity

and replies

> ck: I beg to differ.  Feeling like 116 is different from the 
> actual temperature being 116,  regardless of humidity. But perhaps it's 
> that misapprehension that  makes people in this low-humidity climate 
> believe their bodies are  handling the heat just fine, when in fact 
> they're not. People don't  *feel* that much hotter (perception), but 
> their actual body temperature  may go above what their internal organs 
> can stand.

More might be  said. The body has two man ways of preserving a constant 
body temperature:  by bringing more blood (filling the capillaries, etc.) 
close to the surface  of the skin so that the blood can be cooled by the 
ambient air (or water)  and by sweating. When the external temperature 
reaches the body's internal  temperature, bringing blood close to the 
surface no longer cools the body  and sweating begins. The cooling effect 
of the sweat lying on the surface of  the skin comes from evaporation. 
When the humidity is so high that  evaporation no longer takes place the 
body has no more mechanisms for  cooling itself and its internal 
temperature rises. Heat stroke, a  potentially fatal condition eventually 
ensues if nothing more is done, and  heat stroke victims may have 
internal temperatures as high as 105Â F, enough  to at least braise the 
inner organs, if not cook them thoroughly.

So,  Julie's right, and Carol's right, and everything is quite all right.
For the  time beingâ

Robert Paul
Reed  College
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