The Technograph

Summer is great; clear skies and warm weather. But sometimes Mother Nature can go overboard. The next time you find yourself cursing the sun when your ice cream falls onto your shoe, remember it could be worse. You could be:

In Urbana in 1954, where it reached a record of 109°F (43°C) on July 14. That same day, East St. Louis set the record temperate for Illinois at 117°F (47°C.) Many cities are hotter than their surrounding rural areas. These Urban Heat Islands arise from the lack of vegetation, the slower winds, and concentration of machines that give off heat.

In the mouth of Atlanta resident Willie Jones in 1980, where he was found to have a temperature of 116°F (46.6°C) when admitted to the hospital for heatstroke. He was discharged 24 days later. The 1995 heat wave in Chicago caused 739 heat-related deaths in one week. Efforts in getting elderly residents to air-conditioned areas have reduced annual cases of fatal hyperthermia.

In front of an Active Denial System, a military “pain ray” that uses millimeter length waves to penetrate the skin. In two seconds, water in the skin is heated to 130°F (54°C). The resulting sensation of extreme heat makes targets instinctively try to flee. It may be used in crowd control, but it faces issues of safety, potential for abuse, and poor public perception.

In Death Valley in 1913, on July 10, where it was 134°F (57°C), just short of the 136°F (58°C) world record in Al 'Aziziyah, Libya. Death Valley gets so hot because it has the lowest elevation in North America. When the Sun hits the ground, warm air rises, but cannot get very high because the atmospheric pressure is higher in areas of low elevation. The surrounding mountains help to contain this hot air.

On the lap of Stella Liebeck in 1992, when she spilled her 180°F (82°C) cup of McDonalds coffee. She was treated for 3rd degree burns and sued the corporation. The court initially awarded her $2.8 million, but she eventually settled out of court for significantly less.

Underneath the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. In 1962, a fire began to burn its way trough a vein of coal to the abandoned mines that ran underneath the small town. The temperature was recorded as reaching above 1,000°F (538°C,) and attempts made to extinguish the fire failed. Today the town has few inhabitants; carbon monoxide and smoke rise from the ground.

On the 9,800ºF (5,400°C) surface of the Sun. While this may seem impressive, lightning heats air to 50,000ºF (27,000°C.) This air expands so rapidly that it creates a shockwave (thunder) similar to when planes break the sound barrier.

Inside the Sun. The 27,000,000°F (15,000,000°C) temperatures and massive pressures at the core of the sun yield nuclear fusion, where hydrogen is converted to helium and a great deal of energy is released. The recently competed National Ignition Facility in California will focus 192 lasers to heat fusion material to 180,000,000°F (100,000,000°C.) The higher temperature is needed to compensate for the much lower pressure on earth.

Around when the Big Bang went down. A fraction of a second after the event, it may have reached the Plank temperature, 250,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000°F or 2.5 x 1032°F (1.4 x 1032°C.) This might be the hottest hot can get.

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