6 ms·
Heat and temperature are indeed not the same. For both the sun and a human on earth there are two processes going on: 1. Heat production per unit volume. 2.
by bzbarsky 4y ago
Heat and temperature are indeed not the same.
For both the sun and a human on earth there are two processes going on:
1. Heat production per unit volume.
2. Heat loss per unit surface area.
The volume to surface area ratio for the sun is much larger than for the human, for a minor reason (the sun is a sphere) and a major reason (the sun's linear size is much bigger). So the equilibrium temperature of the sun in the same ambient outside environment is higher than the human's.
Your thought experiment about placing a human inside the sun would in fact work as you say, if a human body continued to produce heat once it had achieved thermal equilibrium with the surrounding plasma.
- hatsunearu 4y agoYeah, this is a morbid analogy but if you got a bunch of people enclosed in a small area, the people in the middle will get so hot they will heatstroke, even if it's freezing outside. See the recent Korean crushing disaster.
- trompetenaccoun 4y agoDon't give them ideas, harnessing people power would solve all the major problems. Overpopulation, global warming, energy crisis,... Reminds me of that 'Mitchell and Webb - Kill all the poor' sketch.
- eru 4y agoThere's no overpopulation problem, and no energy crisis.
- trompetenaccoun 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_global_energy_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_global_energ...
- eru 4y agoEnergy was a bit more expensive than usual for a short while. I guess you can call that a crisis.
- sumitkumar 4y agoWell, plant the idea that there is a fusion reaction going on in mitochondria at a very low scale. Throw in terms like "proton gradient", "electron transport chain" and create a science conspiracy.