Eli5 when temperature is just how much molecules move, why can our skin be permanently damaged if they move to much, aka, you get a burn.
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Because when you move those molecules too much they either break, react, or don’t go back to where they’re supposed to be.
Imagine an outcome for each.
Break: you melt or disintegrate.
React: you literally burn or dissolve.
Don’t go back: you crumble or fall apart.
Being caught in an intense fire can and will do all of these things to you, just by making your molecules move way, way too much.
Your skin is like the ingredients to a cake, when you bake them it changes from a bunch of flour and water and sugar into a fluffy new thing. The temperature helps some of the bits that make up your skin move around and rearrange so they can make something new.
Have you ever been shaken really hard? To the point you feel sick? You could snap your neck too.
The molecules snapped their necks.
If molecules move fast enough they’ll cause things to break. Things such as your cells. And if they move really fast they can cause your cells to get broken at the molecular level (AKA cooked). Cooking is also just making molecules move fast. You wouldn’t want to get cooked.
Move your arm. Now move your arm a lot really fast in random directions. Keep getting faster. Move it in risky directions. Push it a little past the point of a stretch. Move it faster. Faster until it’s hard to track your movement with the human eye. Now go faster. Faster. ***Faster***. Now your arm is a blur. Keep that up for a few hours.
Now, how do you think your joints are doing?
Things that aren’t meant to be moved a lot or fast, tend to fare poorly when they are. Your skin isn’t meant to be exposed to constant high temperatures. It doesn’t have the right properties to withstand the side effects. Just like how your arm can only move so fast in limited ways for sinking before your joints just wear out.
The things your skin cells are made of can move so fast and violently they shake themselves apart.
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