r/nottheonion • u/Vera_Telco • 9d ago

DC heat melts head off wax replica of Abraham Lincoln

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0xxjn07d6qo
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288

u/Specialist-Fly-9446 9d ago

Article leaves out the most important part - what is the melting point of this candle wax, and how hot was it?

174

u/Porkodile 9d ago

Wax can have a pretty big large difference for melting points, beween 100F - 190F. Apparently it didn't even reach 100F in DC although that could be wrong.

127

u/EddieSpaghettiFarts 9d ago

They measure that temp in the shade. Poor Abe doesn’t even have an umbrella.

107

u/ArethereWaffles 9d ago

It's also a measure of air temperature which is different from an object's surface temperature. Just because the air is 90F doesn't mean asphalt roads, metal railings, or wax statues are at 90F

43

u/SuperOrangeFoot 9d ago

Yeah it seems wild to me to look at a melting object in direct sunlight and go “what is the ambient temperature of the air surrounding it?”

6

u/bingate10 8d ago

It shouldn’t be wild it is basic thermodynamics. Both are important. Air removes solar radiant heat absorbed by objects. Colder air moving faster will drive cooling most. Air got too warm and/or stagnant and the wax heated above melt point from sunlight. It was fine in the sun before it melted.

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u/Specialist-Fly-9446 9d ago

It is interesting for those with a sense of intellectual curiosity.

20

u/firedmyass 9d ago

“there’s dozens of us!”

7

u/Quake_Guy 9d ago

Somehow measuring solar load as a temperature adder as humidity is used to create heat index has never been done.

As someone who lives in Phoenix, I am curious. I seem to be the only one that brings it up.