Re: [Phys-l] Temperature in Space

["Anthony Lapinski" <anthony_lapinski@pds.org>]

Great question! I used to use Giancoli, now I have Cutnell & Johnson. Temp
is a measure of the average KE of the molecules. But there are so few air
molecules up there that they have low internal energy. So little heat is
transferred to the animal.

I do a sparkler demo to illustrate this. Light a sparkler. The flame as
around 2000° -- doesn't matter if it's °F, °Ç, or K. It's hot and will
burn paper. Then let the sparks hit your hand, but you will not get hurt.
You should be at least 3 cm away from the flame. High temp, but low
internal energy. And very little heat transfer to your hand.

PHYS-L Maillist <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu> on Saturday, February
18, 2006 at 12:08 PM -0500 wrote:
> I have a question from Giancoli that I am trying to get a good answer to 
> for my high school class. 
>
> " The temperature high in the earth's atmosphere is 700C yet an animal 
> would freeze to death up there. Explain"
>
> What does the temperature of 700C refer to exactly?  When one says the 
> temperature on the moon in sunlight is 250C, what does this really mean?
>
> Thanks for your advice on this one, I am looking for a good way to 
> explain this to high school students.
>
>    David Abineri
>
>
> -- 
> dabineri@fuse.net
>
>
>
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