biological question?

Question

Why does a person submerged under cold water survive longer than a person submerged under hot water?
..please give science-related answer

Answer 1

Cold water lowers the body's core temperature thereby slowing the heart rate and reducing the body's oxygen requirements, particularly the brain's since it is the first organ to succumb to oxygen deprivation. The nearer the water's temperature is to freezing, the slower will be the body's deterioration. There have been cases of young children being submerged in freezing water for lengthy time periods, eventually being rescued; as their body temperatures returned to normal, they emerged from their comas without evidence of brain damage. Because a child's brain is more resilient generally than an adult's, an adult might not survive such drowning...

Answer 2

This is an interesting question!
First of all, it depends on what you mean by cold and what you mean by hot.

Either way, your body will not fare well unless it is precisely at 98.6 degrees. In order to keep at that temperature, the bodies do various things.

When it is cold, we shiver, pull blood away from surfaces, move around more, etc. Most of what I can think of can also be done immersed in the water. i.e. if a body is immersed in a cold water (not freezing cold, just a little colder than body temperature), the body will find a way to warm it up.

When the body is immersed in a hot water (again, not boiling hot, just warmer than body temperature), there isn't much the body can do to cool it down. Normally, we would sweat, bring blood to the surface, fan ourselves, etc. to cool down. None of these things will cool the body down if immersed in water.

So if the temperature variance from body temperature is the same, a body will be better off in cold water than hot.

BTW, I'm all speculating here. I can not referencing any studies that looked at this.

Answer 3

Cold water slows biological processes, such as blood flow and electrical impulses and breathing, which keeps oxygen if the blood longer and causes a type of suspended animation...until it freezes the water in your body. If you can catch it right before or between these stages, a person may survive, at least that is what I have heard.

Answer 4

Cold water slows down metabolism greatly. Therefore cutting down the need for oxygen in all the extremities & reserving oxygenated blood for the brain.n Hot speeds metabolism.

Answer 5

That depends upon the actual temperatures!

If the body is heated to above 106F, and there is no provision for heat to be carried away, the central nervous system will sustain irreparable damage. Above 110F, proteins start to change in structure (denature). Think of clear eggwhite turning white and getting firm...the same kind of reaction can occur in the body's proteins, causing widespread irreversible organ damage.

Answer 6

cold water slows molecules.

Answer 7

i don't no