one of those"it's been bugging me" threads

[legoalex2000]

we all know that body temp is 98.6

[BFMF]

Because it would be really hot

[Hagar]

[quote]we all know that body temp is 98.6

[Tweek]

Well comfortable room temperature in

[TacitBlue]

Your body is always making heat, and at the same time, it is always dissipating heat. Like tweek said, if the room in the same temp as your body, then the heat will have nowhere to go.

[Saitek]

Ay, but if we all stripped and sat at 37C it wouldn't be so bad... but I won't suggest that.

I think the biggest reason would be that our fat causes us to stay hot (keeps the heat in - as someone said your skin doesn't get to 37C!) and hotter surroundings actually make things worse as we then need to sweat to cool down. Remember that the liver produces an immense quantity of heat and it is where the blood warms up (like the boiler in a central heating system). It appears to me that the "ideal" temperature is around 20-25 why we feel comfortable at it) because that is all that is needed to sustain the body. The liver and other organs produce enough heat to make the rest to 37C.  
If on a hot day we go outside there is excess heat being produced in the body (but this can't stop of course) so the body has to then sweat to try to maintain an equilbrium.

[TacitBlue]

Then explain why my feet sweat when they are cold?

[Saitek]

I'm not a doc, but the above was my personal reasoning.

But as for your feet there is an explanation. If you shoes or whatever footwear you use are not breathble then you will sweat. If they are too tight then this can have the same thing. Socks can be guilty of that too. You won't have sweaty feet in sandals no matter how cold they get.

I can sweat too though when I'm nervous or concentrating and be really cold - they are just body reactions.

[BFMF]

You won't have sweaty feet in sandals no matter how cold they get.

I can sweat too though when I'm nervous or concentrating and be really cold - they are just body reactions.

My hands and feet are abnormal, and for some reason, are almost always sweating. The last time I tried wearing a pear of sandals, my feet were sweating so much I couldn't wear them

Feet do sweat in cold weather. When we train in the field, it's imperative that we change our socks every day. Believe it or not, it really does help.

I'm glad i'm not the only person who sweats when nervous

[Saitek]

You mean you needed the army training to get you to change your socks every day?
My, where did your Mum go wrong!

As for you being abnormal Andrew - don't you leave somewhere hot? South of the US or something?

[H]

As for you being abnormal Andrew - don't you leave somewhere hot? South of the US or something?

He lives in the U.S. where things can still get very hot even in cold situations.

[Whitey]

It's 37 degrees Celcius internal.  And if you've ever been in a crowded space (down the front at a gig) you'll know it does get really hot!  Normally you're body releases heat, but gets it dissipated in such a way to regulate the temperature evenly throughout the room.  If you do the equations you get:

cm[delta T]room = cm[delta T]people

Since the m for the room is much larger and so will be the specific heat capacity of air (c), the temparature cange in the air will be very small.  That's the scientific explanation.  Sorry if it confused you...fell free to PM if you want or need more clarification or proof.

[Fozzer]

A fascinating thread...
But in future, could everyone stick to Farenheit, (degrees F),and not Celsius, (degrees C), so that we "older generation" can have at least some idea what real temperature represents... ...!
LOL...!

Paul...changes his socks every 3 months, or a temperature in excess of 70 degrees Farenheit, whichever is the greatest... ...!

[Jared]

I'm still trying to figure out why our noses run and our feet smell!

[Hagar]

A fascinating thread...
But in future, could everyone stick to Farenheit, (degrees F),and not Celsius, (degrees C), so that we "older generation" can have at least some idea what real temperature represents... ...!
LOL...!

All these different methods of measuring anything can only cause confusion & lead to mistakes. It's all very well for the powers-that-be to suddenly change the goalposts but what they don't seem to realise is that it obviously depends on which particular units your measuring instrument (in this case your thermometer) is calibrated in. Degrees Celsius, Centigrade or whatever else they might like to call it is no use at all on my trusty thermometer calibrated in Fahrenheit.