this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 37 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I've heard that basically everywhere you go in space you will die by overheating because your body can't radiate away the heat it generates. It's weird to think that you can die from literally being cooked alive in a vacuum with a temperature of 0 degrees (readers choice of units).

Temperature is one of the least intuitive things when really getting into the nitty gritty of it. One of my favorite things to prompt people with is to ask them what makes something twice as hot as something else?

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Temperature is the average speed of atoms, in space, what atoms?

Space isn't cold. It just isn't any temperature

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Right, so getting to that whole "temperature is a measure of average speed of atoms," what's the average speed of atoms in 100 degrees Celsius boiling water vs 100 degree celsius steam? Or for that matter any solid at any given temperature compared to any gas of the same temperature? See what I mean when I said not intuitive?

Also, even in a vacuum a thermometer will eventually settle on a temperature it'll just take longer to equalise.

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[–] GhostedIC@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Rather than reader's choice of units, it has to be Kelvin... 0F or 0C is warm in absolute terms.

[–] Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 week ago

Also, Kelvin doesn't have degrees.

[–] piranhaconda@mander.xyz 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

AcKsHuLlY it could also be in rankine

I'm being pedantic as fuuuuuck because I've never actually seen it used in real life. For those that don't know, it's similar to Kelvin in that 0 is actually absolute zero, but the degree step sizes are the same as fahrenheit

[–] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Rankine is used in chemical engineering calcs because a lot of US chemical plants are built in US Customary units and it's a lot easier to calculate in Rankine and keep everything in that system than try to convert back and forth between K and F.

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[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's exactly like being trapped in a thermos. But! There are space suit concepts that use an airtight helmet, but the rest of the body effectively is exposed to vacuum, supported and protected using a skin tight water-permeable fabric that prevents you from swelling up or burning in the UV. One of the benefits of this kind of space suit is that SWEATING WORKS IN SPACE!!! The sweat carries away heat (and further consumes it in the phase transition) when it instantly flashes to vapor, cooling one's body. Sweating is a human super power and we can leverage it to perform our own temperature regulation in a vacuum! I've always thought that was super cool.

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[–] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 21 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Instead of wasting our resources trying to terraform Mars, we should look for planets already in this "balmy zone" to live on.

[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 45 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You mean like not fucking up the planet we live on? That's impossible, you're insane.

[–] Arsecroft 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

yeah, if we could terraform mars, we could terraform earth too. i'm in the "let's put all the pollution on the moon" camp

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[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 weeks ago

We've had one planet, yes. But what about second planet?

"I don't think he knows about second planet, Pippin."

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

Here's an idea, let's clean up our home.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Reaching mars is far more achievable than reaching another solar system.

[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago

Thankfully there's a planet already in the balmy zone in this solar system, and even better, it already has an atmosphere we can breathe!

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 17 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Space has no temperature. Space is a vacuum. Temperature needs things to jiggle.

[–] salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

The average temperature of the universe today is approximately 2.73 K (−270.42 °C; −454.76 °F), based on measurements of cosmic microwave background radiation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero

Cited from https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/09/25/947116.htm

[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Wonder how they calculated the "average" temperature. Was it weighted by mass or by volume?

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[–] essell@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

But a thing in space is not a vacuum and is subject to heating via solar radiation

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[–] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The half of you not facing the sun would freeze, even on mercury it gets cold at night

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 32 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I will simply sit on an office chair and spin around like doner on a rotisserie

[–] warbond@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Klear@quokk.au 7 points 2 weeks ago

You can do that without a chair in space.

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[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

If you've got even modest infrared insulation, though, your metabolism is more than enough to keep you from freezing. No convective or conductive heat transfer makes getting rid of heat more of a problem.

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[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago
[–] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

Literally. It's adorable seeing kids figure things out like that, though :)

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