I’ve legitimately had the experience of seeing someone’s sandals melt in pavement (thankfully we made it to out destination before the sandals totally failed and broke apart). I’ve also had shoes get very very uncomfortably hot from walking on a road.
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Heh. We still laugh (at least I do) about the time the sole partially detached from her hiking boot on a leisurely walk at the Kelso Dunes midday here in CA… Air temp was probably only about 100, but within a few inches of the sand it was easily 140. I’ve got insulated boots, and it was pretty darn hot.
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Given that the study is based on analysis of people who ended up having burns treated in the hospital after contact with hot pavement; it seems quite possible that this(or at least the speed at which it can reach reasonably serious injury) is news to some people.
If the thrust of the paper were “Hot surfaces; a novel mechanism in the etiology of surface burns” that would be pretty dubious. It’s actually more of a public health thing, in the “Burning themselves on pavement, a thing people do; and some statistical characterizations of the circumstances and patients affected” vein, which isn’t going to set the world on fire; but isn’t something one can dismiss as common sense.
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I found the headline a bit overly reductive, in that case.
I am very happy that scientists science.
You sound like one of those people who doesn’t just cycle between pallor, radiation burns, peeling; and more pallor if they let the accursed daystar scourge their flesh without countermeasures.
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Yeah, headline is trying to make scientists sound stupid. Actual article title is “A 5-Year Review of Pavement Burns From a Desert Burn Center” and like @fuzzyfungus said, it has it’s uses. I imagine it is also useful for capacity planning at burn centers.
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I play soccer on turf pitches, and even when it’s sunny and in the 70’s, the air around it gets very muggy, and my feet get very very hot. When it’s in the 80’s we have to take breaks by running onto the asphalt sidewalk.
I grew up on Southern California, and we went barefoot all the time. I remember coming back inside the house after running around outside and the shag carpet felt like luxurious silk.
Years later, I watched videos of people “walking” on hot coals, and I had flashbacks of running very quickly from shady spot to shady spot.
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Obligatory Jimmy Buffett:
“I blew out my flip flop
Stepped on a pop top”
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