Transcript
This is how cold it is in Canada. Say it with me. What the science? Now normally I'd start getting into the math and talking about thermal conductivity and specific heat and all that, but let's try to take a slightly different tact. Let's play a little game of would you rather step outside on the coldest day you've ever experienced, say, I don't know, negative 10, negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Or jump into a tub of water that's, I don't know, 40 degrees. If you've ever experienced the latter, you'll know that it is so, so much worse than the cold air. Because air doesn't conduct heat nearly as well as water does. There's just not as many molecules there to bump into you. Why am I talking about this? Well, because the coldest day ever recorded on record in Antarctica is negative 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit, negative 89.2 degrees centigrade. I'm betting Canada is not currently that cold. But if you've ever heard of cryotherapy, you'll know that it often gets. down to negative 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Super, super cold. And you go in that little chamber with maybe some gloves and socks on, but aside from that, you could be shirtless and, you know, we're made mostly of water, so you can sort of use that as an estimate for how the conductivity of air would work for rapidly freezing water. A little spray of water, sure, that can freeze quickly. But those really thick streams? Uh-uh. I'm calling special effects. Thank you.
Additional notes
Can water freeze in mid-air? #science #canada #cold #winter
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