I know that when something is cold or hot it’s just our sense of when molecules move slower or faster but I don’t understand why that can kill you. Why can something damage you if its molecules just move slower or faster?
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Hot means molecules move more and are more prone to react. If the water in your body evaporates, your proteins cook (become fragmented) and you receive a damage.
Cold does harm you in two ways: blood becomes thicker so it can’t flow to all places. Some organs start failing.
Second: Water in your body freezes and the ice crystals break your cells. A low and local exposure causes frostbites; basically, your cells when un-freeze are in the same state as if you have been beaten with a hammer, as the ice has smashed the cells walls. Frostbites are very very painful even for very little exposures; in big amount they kill you, as the dead cells do rot and your body can’t clean the area quick enough, you lose limbs for infection or even die of infection.
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