• Question: what is the highest temperature of water that you can sit in for 1 minute and not die?

    Asked by emma014442 to Arttu, Ceri, James_M on 24 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ceri Brenner

      Ceri Brenner answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      The body’s optimum internal temperature is about 37 degrees and that’s why your body reacts to changes in outside temperature (to keep it at 37), so anything above this is not ideal but i don’t know how high is dangerous, perhaps above 60 degrees? it would have to be hot enough to not just burn your skin but also heat your internal organs and body. also, I’m not sure if 1 minute is long enough to increase the internal body temperature enough, and then keep it at this non-optimal temp, to do actual irreversible damage to the organs (and ultimately cause death), I guess you’d have to ask a medic for the real answer.

    • Photo: Arttu Rajantie

      Arttu Rajantie answered on 24 Jun 2011:

      I think Ceri is right that 1 minute is such a short time that the heat may not reach your internal organs unless the water is really quite hot and therefore, you may survive. For longer periods of time anything that is significantly above 40C is dangerous because your body has no way to keep the temperature down.

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