"pyotr filipivich" wrote in message
...
Let the record show that "RAM^3" wrote back
on
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:29:00 -0500 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
"pyotr filipivich" wrote in message
. ..
If so, is the amount of heat transferred sufficient to cause first,
second or third degree burns?
A couple of tidbits of information:
1. "First Degree" = Reddening of the outer layer of the skin [Epidermis] ~
Sunburn, Scalding
2. "Second Degree" = Blistering of the outer layer of the skin ~ Severe
Sunburn, Severe Scalding
3. "Third Degree" = Charring of the outer layer of the skin ~ Backing up
to
an operating Cutting Torch's flame
I have heard of a slightly different scale of this, which had more to
do with the damage inflicted. First degree burns don't destroy the skin,
second degree destroy the skin, but not the underlying tissue, third
degree
burns destroy the underlying tissue. This could cause a "3rd degree" burn
from boiling water (or sugar solutions such as syrup or honey, which can
get much hotter than water).
It isn't so much the temperature, as it is the heat transferred.
Anyone who has passed their hand through a cutting torches flame or held a
hand over a small match, can tell you the difference. (I recall watching
the guy stick his hand into a pot of molten lead. Okay, he didn't keep it
in long, but he did "stick his hand in molten lead", and just as fast
jerked it out.)
I was "intrigued" to learn there is a new classification of "4th
degree" which is when the tissue and/or bone burn. Ouch.
That "Fourth Degree" is actually "Third" according to my old texts.
Someone seems to be trying to reclassify burns so as to let some slimeball
lawyer claim "Third Degree" for what is, at best, "Second".
Underlying tissue damage without charring would be Second.
Personally, I hope to never have to treat _another_ Third Degree burn: while
it's been several decades since my days as a fireman/EMT, it hasn't been
long enough for me to forget the smell of burned human tissue or the scream
of the patient when the wound is debrided.
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