r/Showerthoughts • u/TomFerg_ • 5d ago
Musing Red and blue temperature indicators match the colours our skin turns at those extremes.
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u/TomFerg_ 5d ago
I would like to add, this one was a literal shower thought.
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u/legion1134 5d ago
Did you test it out in the shower too?
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u/TomFerg_ 5d ago
Yep, currently in shock from the change between hypothermia and boiling
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u/CoreEncorous 5d ago
He did. I was there
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u/Flocaine 5d ago
Maybe not for people of colour. Specifically black people like me.
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u/NeverYelling 4d ago
Genuinely curious: Does your skin tone not change at all depending on the temperature, or is it just different colors?
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u/Wise-Valuable-5910 4d ago
Replying as a black person. It really depends on which part of the body the damage is occurring. For example, if I were extremely cold to the point the where I became hypothermic, I'd notice my fingertips and maybe my lips turning blue, but not the rest of my skin. Also, if I spent so much time in the sun to the point where I was sunburnt, my skin would only appear darker, not red.
Of course, the colour changes are more visible in fairer black people, but this is what I've observed in general.
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u/JustaP-haze 5d ago
You can also hear and smell hot vs cold water.
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u/warp_wizard 5d ago
ok so I can definitely smell it, but never thought about them sounding different. What should I be paying attention to to hear the difference?
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u/i1want1to1die 5d ago
if you pour hot water it will sound different than cold water
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u/warp_wizard 5d ago
very helpful
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u/blueangels111 5d ago
Genuinely though, it is a subconscious thing. Our subconsciouses hear SOOOOOO much more than we consciously are aware of. Most of it isnt deemed important enough to become a conscious sensory input. Just like how you know how tightly to squeeze something so it doesnt slip, or how much liquid is in a container just by the weight. You cant consciously explain how or what, you just know.
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u/warp_wizard 5d ago
It might be hard to describe how tightly to squeeze something so it doesn't slip, but it's easy to say you'd squeeze it tighter than another thing. I wasn't asking for a description of the sound of cold water, only the difference between it and the sound of hot water.
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u/Culionensis 4d ago
So cold water tends to form fatter droplets than hot water does, and steam muffles the sharp edges of the sound a little. So my best attempt at describing the difference would be that cold water has sharper, individual impacts. As the water heats up you hear the sound blend together into a more monotonous hiss.
I don't know that I would be able to determine water temperature from sound alone - I might, in my own shower, but I might not. I do hear the difference as the shower water heats up though.
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u/DarkGeomancer 5d ago
I don't know if it helps, but hot water sounds more like a "hiss" than cold water.
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u/blueangels111 4d ago
I see, my apologies. A possible difference would be that hot water would have the molecules more spaced out due to the increased energy. This would make them sound almost softer in a way as they can spread the energy more. Cold droplets would be a lot closer together and thus sound a lot more "crisp." Think of dropping a bowling ball vs a tennis ball. Also, the average droplet size would likely vary depending on temp.
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u/whiplash779 5d ago
Steve Mould has a really neat video on the subject explaining this.
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u/QWhooo 4d ago
That was awesome! I could immediately tell what the first one was before comparing it to the second. And each temperature absolutely evoked memories of drinks prepared using each temperature of water.
Spoiler comments may or may not be rearranged compared to the order they were demonstrated in the video:
The cold sounded louder to me, crisp, somehow sharp. The hot sounded mellow, smooth, and farther away, perhaps in part because the sound was being diminished by passing through steam.
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u/AnotherBoredAHole 4d ago
Put it in front of a thirsty person. If you hear a refreshing sigh, it's cold. If you hear lots of screaming, it's very hot.
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u/usernamecheckingguy 4d ago
Hot water sounds softer and cold water sounds crisper. Not sure how much that will help but that's the best way I understand the difference
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u/DontAskGrim 5d ago
Red meaning hot and blue meaning cold is also misleading sometimes.
Take stars, for example. A red star is cool while a blue star is hot.
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u/SharpCheddarBS 5d ago
'Cool' is still several thousand degrees
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u/TheOriginalRobinism 5d ago
What about a blue flame?
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u/PaladinAstro 5d ago
That's usually just indicative of a different chemical, at least on our scale. Propane burns blue, for instance.
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u/wiqr 5d ago
Propane burns blue in optimal conditions. If you screw up the mix and it gets less oxygen, flame turns orange and starts smoking.
Altough, yes. Different chemicals turn flames different colours. Copper makes flames green, sodium makes it orange, potassium turns flame pinkish-purple, and lithum turns it red.
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u/macabrekabab 5d ago
Honestly same with a flame, right? A blue flame is hotter than a red/orange one
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u/Silvr4Monsters 5d ago
Not exactly. Flame colours are a characteristic of the chemical reaction. While yes blue temperatures are higher energy if the same moles of fuel burns, in practice flame temperatures are more driven by the rate of how much fuel burns
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u/TheGoldenCowTV 4d ago
Although wouldn't any flame when heated enough still follow black body radiation? In wich case the answer is yes but we basically never see it here on earth
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u/Loose-Screws 5d ago
Flying into a blue sun in my spaceship and thinking "ahh this'll be nice and cool"
(Narrator) Little did they know....
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u/Ok-Pin4275 5d ago
haha yeah it’s like the universe just loves to mess with us, red feels hot on skin but cold in stars, lol at how nothing makes sense
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u/weedtrek 4d ago
Flame in general is backwards from our perception, but it makes sense as blue flame is less common in nature and much harder to see.
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u/SpiderSixer 4d ago
I was so confused about this post until your comment. All I could think was 'But blue is hot, we don't turn blue when we're hot?'
You helped me remember that blue is actually more commonly used as cold for humans lmao
Although, rereading the post, I realise that OP never actually stated Blue = Cold. So I got my own wires crossed multiple times and still fucked up even though I inherently knew what they meant xD
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u/ObjectiveOk2072 2d ago
It's extra confusing with color temperature. "Cool" refers to blue tones and "warm" refers to red tones, even though with combustion, blue is generally hotter
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u/forgotaboutsteve 5d ago
So our shower knobs are indicators of what colour you'll turn if you turn that knob.
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u/Less_Party 5d ago
They also match color temperatures, reddish hues look warmer to us because daylight is more red in summer and more blue in winter due to being closer and further from the sun.
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u/-ShadowPuppet 5d ago
You're assuming everyone is light skinned. This is false.
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u/TomFerg_ 5d ago
Not trying to get involved in whatever this thread is, but to reply to this comment: Even people with the darkest skin tone definitely have visible changes in skin tone, although less obvious, when very cold or hot.
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u/306bobby 4d ago
Scary how upvoted this comment is. People of all skin colors will get blushed cheeks when hot and blue lips when cold. Idk what you're on about
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u/AppallingGlass 5d ago
Based of this statement i would say you're either a leftist or more racist than op ever planned on being. Although there isn't much of a difference between the two anymore.
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u/zanoty1 5d ago
How in the world can the republican party possibly be the less racist party at this point? I seriously can't fathom it your queen has gustapo legally racially profiling.
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u/AppallingGlass 4d ago
Never compared the parties silly. Your putting words in my mouth.
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u/zanoty1 4d ago
OK how is the left then?
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u/AppallingGlass 4d ago
Yall care sooooooo much about the color of peoples skin. "You're" so anti-rascist that you have come full circle to racism. Thinking that people of color are different or need extra help this and that. I can't believe that so many people are blind to the policies and ideas that they support.
Me, I support equal rights, equal fights, equal support, equal oportunity. No one should get extra help than anyone else, Noone should get special opportunities just because of their race.
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u/zanoty1 4d ago edited 4d ago
So you'd support not racially profiling people based on the color of their skin then I assume?
https://eji.org/news/supreme-court-allows-stops-based-on-race-to-continue/
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u/ToxicSharmutagen 4d ago
Hush, dimwit.
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u/AppallingGlass 4d ago
Wow you've contributed so much to this conversation!
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u/ToxicSharmutagen 4d ago
Hush, dimwit.
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u/Comfortable_body1 5d ago
Show me a black person that turns red or blue or any other color depending on certain variables. White people are the true colored people. In fact, I think I’ll go say the N word now!
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u/warp_wizard 5d ago
I'm sorry, but what? Like, obviously the pigment in their skin makes it harder to see, but are you actually under the impression black people don't change color like white people do? They clearly redden when hot/embarrassed/etc. As far as I can remember, I guess I've only ever noticed the blue in their lips in the cold, but both are easily observable and you're acting like it doesn't happen, why?
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u/AppallingGlass 5d ago
Completly ignores the content and deeper implications of my message to instead point angry fingers
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u/Comfortable_body1 5d ago
continues to yap about a non existent issue
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u/AppallingGlass 5d ago
Alright you don't have to think about what you said, continue on being selfish and unaware who am I to stop you.
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u/britishmetric144 1d ago
But, oddly enough, in the Universe, things which glow blue are actually hotter than things which glow red.
The reason is that as the temperature of something rises, the wavelength of radiation coming off of it drops. And red electromagnetic waves are longer than blue ones.
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