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

  • From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 21:39:59 -0700

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 105º 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 being…

Robert Paul
Reed College
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