What is Hottest Temperature Human can Hold?
With climate change causing temperatures to rise around the world, extreme heat continues to be a health threat. The human body is tough, so what is the highest temperature a person can withstand?
The answer is easy: wet-bulb temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), according to a 2020 study in the daily Science Advances. Wet bulb temperatures are not the same as air temperatures you might observe reported by your local weather forecaster or your favorite weather app. In contrast, wet bulb temperature is measured with a thermometer covered with a cloth soaked in water, and it takes into account both heat and humidity. The latter means that with more water in the air, it is harder for sweat to evaporate from the body and cool a person.
When humidity is low but temperatures are high, or vice versa, wet-bulb temperatures may not approach the tipping point of the human body, said Colin Raymond, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who studies extreme heat. But when humidity and temperature are very high, wet bulb temperatures can spread to dangerous levels. For example, when the air temperature is 115 F (46.1 C) and the relative humidity is 30%, the wet bulb temperature is only near 87 F (30.5 C). But when the air temperature is 102 F (38.9 C) and the relative humidity is 77%, the wet bulb temperature is near 95 F (35 C).
The reason people can't survive extreme heat and humidity is that they can no longer control their internal temperature." If the wet bulb temperature rises above the human body temperature, you can still sweat, but you won't be able to cool your body down to that temperature. needed to operate physiologically," Raymond told Live Science.
At this point, the body becomes hyperthermic—above 104 F (40 C). This can cause symptoms such as a rapid pulse, altered mental status, lack of sweating, fainting and coma, according to the National Institutes of Health.
However, a wet bulb temperature of 95 F will not cause immediate death; it could take up to three hours for the heat to persist, Raymond said. There's no way to pinpoint an exact amount of time, he said, but research has tried to estimate it by submerging human participants in hot water tanks and removing them when their body temperature begins to rise uncontrollably. There's also no way to confirm that 95 F is an exact wet bulb temperature that cannot be maintained; Raymond estimates the real number lies in the range of 93.2 F to 97.7 F (34 C to 36.5 C).
While nothing can survive at wet bulb temperatures greater than near 95 F, lower temperatures can also be lethal. Exercising and exposure to direct sunlight make it easier to overheat. Older person; people with certain health conditions, such as obesity; and people who take antipsychotics can't control their temperature either, so heat kills them more easily. This is why people sometimes die in heat that doesn't reach a wet bulb temperature of 95 F.
Fortunately, air conditioning can save people from uninhabitable heat. But, of course, not everyone has access to it, and especially in places where a lot of people have air conditioning, the power grid can be unreliable, says Raymond.
Some positions have reached wet-bulb temperatures of 95 F in recorded history, for Science Advances research. Since the late 1980s and 1990s, hotspots have been the Indus River Valley in central and northern Pakistan and the southern seaside of the Persian Gulf. "And with global warming, it's only going to be more frequent." Positions at risk for these temperatures in the next 30 to 50 years include northwestern Mexico, northern India, Southeast Asia and West Africa, he added.
"Unfortunately, with the climate change already locked in, we're going to continue to warm up a bit, especially if we stop emitting greenhouse gases today," said Raymond. in the future, and I hope more places aren't added to that record."
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