eli5: Do we actually start to get cooked when we get third degree burns?

Question

No cannibalism intended lol. Completely out of curiosity.

In: 41

Answer 1

There is only a certain treshold of heat our cells/enzymes can take until they fall apart. That happens both to your skin and flesh when you get burnt and to the steak that’s on the grill for too long. The word “cooking” just refers to a heating process that doesn’t actually destroy the cells so I would say no, when you get burnt you get burnt, not cooked (well, maybe for a short time).