Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Per an Answermug friend the coldest windchill on earth was on Mt. Washington more than 100 below! What is the hottest thing on earth?
Per an Answermug friend the coldest windchill on earth was on Mt. Washington more than 100 below! What is the hottest thing on earth?
During the volcanic eruptions most recently on the BIG ISLAND of Hawaii it was said that the lava was 1000 degrees F. Anything hotter than that? The yin and yang. Extremes. Too hot too cold just right!
That 1000ºC is about typical for volcanic lava, at least of the type emitted by Hawaii's volcano. The interior of the Earth is hotter, but molten lava as it leaves the volcano's vent is as hot as anything natural on the planet's surface.
That type of rock is basalt, or of that family of igneous rocks; and 1000ºC is not ever so hot industrially. In fact basalt is melted at a somewhat higher temperature, similar to that of iron, and cast for certain engineering applications.
By comparison the surface of the Sun is at about 6000ºC, though its atmosphere reaches (if my memory serves me correctly), some 2 000 000ºC!
Note that wind-chill is NOT the actual air temperature. It is the equivalent temperature on the surface of the skin caused by cold wind removing the tenuous layer of air warmed by your body. A thermometer on Mt. Washington that day would have shown a higher reading.
Thank you for your thoughtful helpful and (once again) very informative reply Durdle. I appreciate it. I lived in Massachusetts for five years and that's where I became uncomfortably familiar with windchill. It's kinda hard for me to comprehend 6000 centigrade. Impossible to cope with 2 million! How do they measure such things? What kind of instruments can withstand that kind of extreme cold or heat? Life is full of perplexing mysteries. I guess that's what keeps me asking questions. Happy Wednesday! :)
Measuring deep cold is not such a problem as measuring very high temperatures, as the sensor itself would be made from a material not hurt by the cold.
Modest incandescent temperatures, say up to 2000ºC, so covering volcanoes and steel-working, can be measured by analysing the colour of the light emitted, so the measuring instrument itself is not close to the heat source.
It's the numerical, and far more accurate, version of the blacksmith judging the right state of the metal for forging, from its glow. (And from the sound of the hammer blows: dull thuds, not clanging, when the steel is in forging-temperature range.)
I don't know the Sun's temperatures are measured. I think it's calculated from similar techniques, using the light and other radiation from the star, and from understanding nuclear physics.
You did elon? Wow! I lived in Massachusetts for 5 years decades ago in East Acton but never made it to Mt. Washington. I know it's in New Hampshire. Was it a particularly windy day when you were there? Thank you for your reply and Happy Wednesday to you m'dear! :)
Durdle 