Higgs Boson wrote:
On Saturday, August 23, 2014 7:27:24 PM UTC-7, Doug Miller wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote in :



micky wrote:

Once in a while in cowboy movie, someone wakes up in the morning and

turns up the kerosene lantern, without lighting it.



Is it actually possible to keep a small flame burning all night, small

enough that it doesn't waste substantial money by burning all night, at

cowboy-era prices?



Hi,

Even smallest flame gives out some heat. In dead winter that can make

quite a difference. Read the story about Napoleon's men dying from

freezing sleeping in tent but ones who had a candle burning did not die.



A single candle puts out enough heat to make the difference, in a Russian winter, between

life and death?

Yeah, riiiiiight.

Depending how well insulated the tent was, between the candle and the men's body heat, it's possible.

The Inuit -- before the whites destroyed their 10,000-year-old culture - could build an igloo expertly very quickly. Once inside & sealed up, they lit a stone lamp burning seal oil. It would make the igloo so warm that the Inuit slept naked between fur blankets.

HB


Hi,
Of course, sleep in the tent without any heat source, in the morning
frosty sparkles on the tent ceiling. Sleep with lantern on or a candle
burning, in the morning no frost in the ceiling of the tent. When we're
going out on winter survival training, some times not even a tent. We
have to dig snow cave and make bed with dry leaves with pine boughs,
sleep in arctic sleeping bag.

Heard this story? during Korean war, when Marines were retreating thru
no man's land in the mountains up North Eastern North Korea, Chinese
reds sneaked in in the dark and carried away marines sleeping in
sleeping bags in bitter cold.
Many of them became POW that way. My dad was a military civilian
attached to 2nd marine div. G2 as POW interrogation interpreter.
Arctic sleeping bag is rated for -50 deg. C. But when it is windy,
it could be -70 deg. C weathe(wind chill) If you spit it'll freeze B4 it
hits the ground.