So my understanding is that heat is simply the speed/velocity and kinetic energy of molecules.
I can understand that the hotter something gets, the more excited and higher velocity/kinetic energy molecules have. it is natural for me to sort of grasp how letting your skin molecules come into contact with that, it strips away your skins molecules and you get burned.
but what i dont understand is: Cold is supposed to be the opposite and molecules more or less at rest mean low temperatures.
How can stable/resting molecules hurt us when its not actively stripping away skin molecules etc?
In: Chemistry
Lots of things in your body need to have a certain amount of energy to do their jobs. As your body gets colder it risks losing that energy and sends signals to your brain to make you feel uncomfortable so that you warm up. If your body loses too much energy from being too cold, some important things called chemical reactions won’t happen – this can lead to death.
Before this, the body tries to save up the energy in the most important places (vital organs) by changing where the blood goes. This means that the less important places like fingers and toes can lose their blood supply and the cells can die.
So the cold is not actively damaging the body in the way heat can. It hurts us by stopping us from functioning normally.
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