Cold day is cold.
It has been determined at my house that the cake I posted about yesterday may possibly be able to raise the dead. That is all.
Today when I arrived at work, it was 10 degrees out. In honor of the frigidity, here are some fun and interesting Science Facts about temperature!
1. Absolute zero is a theoretical temperature barrier that can never be reached. It is the point at which there is no atomic motion, so it constitutes an unbroachable limit, like the speed of light. It is zero degrees Kelvin, or -273 C, which is about -460 F. Scientists have gotten to within billionths of a degree of absolute zero. Matter at this temperature still retains quantum energy, which means that without kinetic energy, quantum effects like superconductivity and Bose-Einstein condensation can be observed.
2. The average temperature of the universe is 2.73 K.
3. Part of your body's thermal regulatory system is the insular layer of heated air that hovers right over your skin. Wind chill makes you feel colder by stripping away this layer of air.
4. It's a bit of a misnomer that heat rises. Heat can't rise; it can only radiate from its source. What we mean by that is that heated air rises via convection.
5. It's a good thing that water has the unusual property in which its solid phase is less dense than its liquid phase. In other words, ice floats. That's not normal. Usually solid phases are more dense. If ice didn't float, rivers and lakes would freeze from the bottom up instead of the top down, and no aquatic life would survive in freshwater in cold weather.
6. In general, human beings evolved in hot climates, and our bodies are far better heat-adapted than cold-adapted. Some physical adaptations to cold that some ethnic groups have acquired over the millenia include shorter stature, stockier build, vaulted noses, and paler skin.
7. Women get cold more than men largely because people's ability to generate heat depends on body volume, but our ability to dissipate heat depends on surface area. Women have a larger surface-area-to-volume ratio, which means we dissipate heat at a faster rate than men, overall.
8. A frequent physics question is why does it get cold at higher altitudes even though you're closer to the sun? Good question. Even at the top of Mt. Everest, you're not appreciably closer to the sun than at sea level considering the huge distance involved. Mt. Everest is about 5.5 miles high, the sun is 93 million miles away, which means at the top of the mountain you're only 0.0000059% closer to the sun than at sea level. But in fact there is a temperature increase due to sun proximity. But it's waaaaay outgunned by the fact that it's the atmosphere that holds the sun's heat energy on the earth's surface, and thinner air means less ability to retain heat.
Today when I arrived at work, it was 10 degrees out. In honor of the frigidity, here are some fun and interesting Science Facts about temperature!
1. Absolute zero is a theoretical temperature barrier that can never be reached. It is the point at which there is no atomic motion, so it constitutes an unbroachable limit, like the speed of light. It is zero degrees Kelvin, or -273 C, which is about -460 F. Scientists have gotten to within billionths of a degree of absolute zero. Matter at this temperature still retains quantum energy, which means that without kinetic energy, quantum effects like superconductivity and Bose-Einstein condensation can be observed.
2. The average temperature of the universe is 2.73 K.
3. Part of your body's thermal regulatory system is the insular layer of heated air that hovers right over your skin. Wind chill makes you feel colder by stripping away this layer of air.
4. It's a bit of a misnomer that heat rises. Heat can't rise; it can only radiate from its source. What we mean by that is that heated air rises via convection.
5. It's a good thing that water has the unusual property in which its solid phase is less dense than its liquid phase. In other words, ice floats. That's not normal. Usually solid phases are more dense. If ice didn't float, rivers and lakes would freeze from the bottom up instead of the top down, and no aquatic life would survive in freshwater in cold weather.
6. In general, human beings evolved in hot climates, and our bodies are far better heat-adapted than cold-adapted. Some physical adaptations to cold that some ethnic groups have acquired over the millenia include shorter stature, stockier build, vaulted noses, and paler skin.
7. Women get cold more than men largely because people's ability to generate heat depends on body volume, but our ability to dissipate heat depends on surface area. Women have a larger surface-area-to-volume ratio, which means we dissipate heat at a faster rate than men, overall.
8. A frequent physics question is why does it get cold at higher altitudes even though you're closer to the sun? Good question. Even at the top of Mt. Everest, you're not appreciably closer to the sun than at sea level considering the huge distance involved. Mt. Everest is about 5.5 miles high, the sun is 93 million miles away, which means at the top of the mountain you're only 0.0000059% closer to the sun than at sea level. But in fact there is a temperature increase due to sun proximity. But it's waaaaay outgunned by the fact that it's the atmosphere that holds the sun's heat energy on the earth's surface, and thinner air means less ability to retain heat.