A few posts ago I wrote about one of my wife's "super human" powers, aka her night vision abilities. If that alone is not impressive enough to us mere mortals, she has yet another amazing ability which defies all odds.
But first, allow me to digress. We have all seen in the movies these people that are able to walk across hot coals. Have you ever asked yourself how in the world do they do that? Some claim it is all about mindset and attitude. While that may partly be true, the ability is actually strongly rooted in physics. The temperature of hot coals can often reach roughly 1000 degrees F. While that is certainly much hotter than the melting point of a person's foot, the actual temperature of the coals is only one part of the equation. Another aspect of what is going on is the relationship between thermal energy and temperature. Basically, the human foot and the hot coals have two very different heat capacities. Heat capacity, or thermal capacity, is the amount of heat it takes to change a particular substance's temperature by a given amount. The human foot, which is mostly made up of water, has a much higher heat capacity than the hot coals. So, the same amount of thermal energy that is flowing away from the hot coals will lower the temperature of the coals much more than that same amount of heat energy will raise the temperature of a human foot. Now, if the foot remains in contact with the hot coals, energy will continuously flow to the foot until the coals and the foot are the same temperature, and will subsequently burn the foot. However, this takes time and the amount of time that it takes is strongly correlated with heat conductivity. There are substances that are good heat conductors, such as water or metal (metal is actually a great conductor and has a very high heat capacity too), but there are also poor heat conductors (or insulators) such as air (think about how you can put your hand into a 450 degree oven without getting burned, so long as you do not touch anything metal) or in the case of the hot coals, ash. So, as the feet are marching across the hot coals, they are actually cooling the coals (remember, coals have a lower heat capacity, so they will cool faster than the feet will heat up) and it takes time for heat to flow from the rest of the fire to the cool spots. Additionally, the feet are mostly made of water, which is a good conductor of heat. So the heat will quickly be conducted away from the contact points between the feet and the coals, thus preventing (subject to time, of course) the temperature from reaching the burning point.
So, you might be asking yourself how is any of this relevant to my wife? Well, she does not go around walking across hot coals (at least not that I know of...), but she does have an unbelievable capacity to touch and handle things that are really hot. Now, there are certainly limits to this ability, after all, even Superman had his limitations, but we have been able to determine that my wife's personal heat capacity is greater than that of a typical human (for argument's sake, I will play the role of a typical human, although some might argue that I am anything but typical). Through extensive trial and error we have discovered multiple things / situations that my wife is able to handle (without a flinch, grimace or any other usual reaction to really hot stuff) for relatively extend periods of time, without the aid of any typical kitchen insulator devices (aka pot holders) or other type of heat protection. Here is a select, but not exhaustive list of the things we have discovered (in some cases on purpose, in other cases by accident, you be the judge):
1. Chicken nuggets freshly out of a 450 degree F oven
2. Fish sticks freshly out of a 400 degree F oven
3. A ceramic dinner plate that has been in a 350 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes
4. Hot candle wax
5. Walking across white beach sand at 2:00 PM on a sunny 95 degree F day in St. Augustine, FL
6. A shower with the cold water turned all the way off (FYI, our water heater is set to 140 degrees F)
7. Squeezing out hot tea bags (Bengal spice is her favorite tea)
8. Hot glue from a hot glue gun
Were I to attempt any of the above for the length of time my wife is able to do so and trust me, I have, I would find myself nursing my singed appendages with ice, cold water, basically anything that would dull the pain, but not Tiffany. She would not miss a beat.
Disclaimer: Please do not try this a home, or at least if you do, be mindful that when you smell burning flesh, let go.
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