- #1
jostpuur
- 2,116
- 19
I tried to check some atmosphere stuff from here: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmos/layers.htm
It says
I thought that the temperature is by definition a quantity which always becomes equal between materials which are in physical contact. So if a human body would get cold in the upper mesosphere, doesn't it mean that the air is cold there? Furthermore, if a human body gets cold there, don't temperature gauges get cold too? How are those high temperatures even measured?
update:
I already got one idea. The page explains the reason for high temperatures to be this:
Does this mean that we should consider the system, consisting of both the electromagnetic radiation and the air molecules, to be the system which is in a high temperature? And if a human goes out there and doesn't protect him or herself in a shadow, he or she will get fried?
update 2:
I don't believe that the idea of the first update is the solution to the problem. A better sounding idea is presented in the post #7. Although the frying effect of the sun's radiation is probably notable too.
It says
However, despite the high temperature, this layer of the atmosphere would still feel very cold to our skin because of the extremely thin air. The total amount of energy from the very few molecules in this layer is not sufficient enough to heat our skin.
I thought that the temperature is by definition a quantity which always becomes equal between materials which are in physical contact. So if a human body would get cold in the upper mesosphere, doesn't it mean that the air is cold there? Furthermore, if a human body gets cold there, don't temperature gauges get cold too? How are those high temperatures even measured?
update:
I already got one idea. The page explains the reason for high temperatures to be this:
The gases of the thermosphere are increasingly thinner than in the mesosphere. As such, only the higher energy ultraviolet and x-ray radiation from the sun is absorbed. But because of this absorption, the temperature increases with height and can reach as high as 3,600°F (2,000°C) near the top of this layer.
Does this mean that we should consider the system, consisting of both the electromagnetic radiation and the air molecules, to be the system which is in a high temperature? And if a human goes out there and doesn't protect him or herself in a shadow, he or she will get fried?
update 2:
I don't believe that the idea of the first update is the solution to the problem. A better sounding idea is presented in the post #7. Although the frying effect of the sun's radiation is probably notable too.
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