Submitted by NonEuclideanGal t3_zeov3u in askscience
urzu_seven t1_izccq9n wrote
You don't even need a theoretical blanket to do this, just a hot/humid enough environment. When the air is hot and humid enough that evaporative cooling no longer works human bodies can no longer dissipate heat and bad things start happening. This is called the wet-bulb temperature. Basically when the wet bulb temperature (thermometer whose measuring point is covered by a pocket of water) is equal to the dry bulb temperature (thermometer in open air) it means the air is fully saturated. A human in the shade with unlimited water could not survived more than a few hours when wet bulb reaches 35 °C (95 °F).
NonEuclideanGal OP t1_izcuot8 wrote
The fact that this can happen outside of my theoretical thought experiment is absolutely terrifying.
nill0c t1_izeegd4 wrote
Yeah, and the projections of (near) future wet-bulb temperatures are pretty scary too: https://climate.nasa.gov/ask-nasa-climate/3151/too-hot-to-handle-how-climate-change-may-make-some-places-too-hot-to-live/
[deleted] t1_izcmn09 wrote
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