heat record: Anyone looking for shelter from the heat in a darkened room can console themselves: Elsewhere it is much hotter than in Austria and other European countries. Here comes the global heat leader according to the German Weather Service (DWD): The weather station on the Greenland Ranch in California’s Death Valley National Park (USA) registered an incredible 56.7 degrees on July 10, 1913.
Ember Contest: According to the Guinness Book of Records, the hottest long-distance race in the world took place in Death Valley. At the 2011 edition of the Badwater Ultramarathon – between Death Valley and Mount Whitney – temperatures of 55 degrees Celsius were recorded. A Mexican won the heat battle over 135 miles (about 217 kilometers) in 23 hours, 41 minutes and 40 seconds.
body temperature: American Willie Jones was admitted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta on July 10, 1980 with heat stroke. The outside temperature in the US state of Georgia was just over 32 degrees Celsius at the time. However, according to the entry in the Guinness Book, doctors measured Jones’ body temperature of 46.5 degrees. Around 37 degrees is normal. The then 52-year-old survived and was released after 24 days.
heat resistant: The tiny tardigrades, also known as water bears, have proven to be almost indestructible. The multicellular organisms can stop their metabolism to survive and, according to the entry in the Guinness Book, survive heat of more than 150 degrees Celsius. The invertebrates, which are about 0.5 millimeters in size, also survive the greatest cold. Because they can exist in space at over minus 270 degrees, it has even been assumed that they are of extraterrestrial origin.
sky explosion: When humid and cold air currents meet, a static tension builds up in the sky, which is discharged in lightning. Inside, the temperature can reach 30,000 degrees Celsius. In fractions of a second, the heated air glows and shines for miles. Due to the strong heating, the air expands explosively, which can be heard as thunder. During a strong storm, up to 2,000 lightning bolts flash across the sky every hour. Most of them do not reach the ground, but race back and forth through the cloud layers.
sun heated: It sounds paradoxical – but the planet closest to the sun in our system is not the hottest. On Mercury, which orbits most closely around our sun, over 460 degrees Celsius are reached. On the other hand, Venus’s surface, though further away, can reach temperatures in excess of 470 degrees. The reason: the planet’s atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide (CO2), which stores heat. This is why the temperature stays so high even at night. On Mercury, on the other hand, since there is almost no atmosphere, it can cool down to below minus 180 degrees at night.
Source: Nachrichten
