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Why is it that, even though our body temperature is 98.6, that it starts to feel uncomfortably hot outside when the temperature reaches 80? You would think that it wouldn't start to feel hot until the temperature went PAST 98 degrees!
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Becuase have to much time on your hands.
I don't understand!
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In LAYMAN'S terms, man!
NP-The Traveling Executioner
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Okay, here goes:
Your body is like a little engine, burning complex hydrocarbon and glucose molecules ingested as food, oxydizing them like a log burnt in a fire (that's why your you-know-what comes out brown before it begins its long trip to the sewage plant).
So, your body produces heat, much of which -- at the normal, comfortable range of temperatures in which we usually find ourselves -- is in excess of what it requires to maintain life and normal physiological functions, so the skin's surface radiates, and sweat from its glands carries away via evaporation, the heat it doesn't need.
The warmer the air gets, then, the less of its internally-generated heat the body needs.
As air temperature and humidity rise, the body rids itself of this excess heat less and less efficiently. When the environment exceeds the body's skin temperature (actually a bit lower than 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees centigrade), it then becomes a net importer of heat.
Everyone has, of course, his or her own idea of what's comfortable. Some people -- like certain insane German tourists, love to visit Death Valley at the height of summer and bask in its 125-degree charm. I, on the other hand, am most comfortable when the air temperature is in the mid-50's (outside; indoors I do like it a bit warmer).
For you, then, when it's around 80, apparently your particular body starts to work harder at ridding itself of excess heat. So, just relax -- I know just how you feel.
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Watch THE MIDNIGHT SUN episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE to see how frightening a change of temperture can really affect people.
Otherwise, read Alfred Bester's short story FONDLY FARENHEIT.
Or see Sidney Lumet's DOG DAY AFTERNOON.
Otherwise, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
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: 