Re: Sea Water Temperatures and the AAT (was: Re: Guide for anti-AATers)
H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
2 Nov 1995 13:54:13 -0500
Troy Kelley <tkelley@hel4.brl.mil> writes:
>This is silly. You don't have to be at "thermal equilibrium" to survive
>in cold water. First, your body generates heat. We get the energy to
>generate heat from food. You can certainly be exposed to a cold
>environment, whether it is water or air, and even though you don't have
>perfect "thermal equalibrium" you can survive from your body generating
>enough heat to keep you alive. Simple.
Yep.
The first thing is that the common usage of "equilibrium" is
something static. In that sense it doesn't even apply in this
case. We'd be in thermal equilibrium if we died and reached
the same temperature as the environment.
That obviously is not what is meant. If we are talking about
some kind of dynamic equilibrium, then we have to define
what is meant by it.
If on the other hand, by equilibrium is meant, being able to
keep the body temperature at 98.6 then obviously it is exactly
as you describe. If we are hotter than the environment we try to
cut down on heat loss so that we don't get cold. If the environment
is hotter than us, we have to sweat to get rid of excess heat.
--
Regards, Mark
http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey
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