Alaska Science Camps, Fairs & Experiments
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offices at 907-474-1902 or email uaf-cxcs@alaska.edu.  Chill
of the
Campfire
The Question Arises
The boat ride or snowmachine ride has been cold. We shiver as we
try to convince our fingers to hold and strike the match to get a
fire going. They are slow and don't function they way they usually
do. We stand by the fire, turning slowly like a barbecue to warm all
of our body, front, back and sides. It feels so good to stand by the
fire.
Finally, after the remains of the teapot or coffee pot have been
poured into the thermos bottle, we walk away from the fire, back to
the boat or snowmachine.
We feel colder walking away than when we approached the
fire. We
ask, "How can this be? I just warmed myself to the point of
roasting."
A science question is formed.
The best way to answer this is to do the following experiment.
 Put a
pan of cold water on the right, a pan of very warm water on the left,
and a pan of room temperature water in the middle.
Put your left hand in the warm water. Put your right hand in the
cold water. Leave both hands there for one to two minutes. Then, put
both hands in the room temperature water.
How does the left hand feel?
How does the right hand feel?
Explain this.
Once you can explain this, apply the understanding to the effect
of walking away from the campfire.
Research
How are signals sent to the brain from the extremities?
Are "cold"
and "hot" signals sent to the brain through the same channels?
How does the body adapt to excessive heat and cold, particularly
in the extremities (hands and feet)?
Further experimentation
Switch the bowls of hot and cold water. Now the right hand is in
the warm water, and the left hand is in the cold. Do the above
experiment again. Does the same effect occur with the opposite
hands?
Try different temperatures of water, from ice water to
lukewarm,
from lukewarm to "dishwater hot." Is the effect more obvious with the
greater temperature differences? Or, does this happen about the same
with all temperature differences?
Put your hands in the bowls of hot and cold water for one to two
minutes. This time, plunge them into the opposite bowl. Don't use the
middle bowl of lukewarm water. Is the effect greater? When the
extremes of temperature are greater, does hot sometimes feel like
cold and does cold feel like hot? How do you explain this?
Try the above experiments, but keep your hands in the water for
only 30 seconds rather than one to two minutes. Does the
difference in time change the outcome at all?
Let three to four different people do the same experiments. Is the
outcome different for different people. Is there any difference in
young, middle age and older people? Is any age group more sensitive
than another?
What conclusions can you draw from the above experiments?
Why do we feel cold when we walk away from a campfire?
Ask the Elders in your area if they experienced feeling cold when
walking away from a campfire. Is there a way to avoid the chill that
accompanies walking away from a campfire?
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