The Human Body’s Heat Plume

Sometimes I forget that we live in an ocean of air. I take for granted that the open space in front of me, or filling our buildings, has a profound affect on my very existance. The gasseous medium we swim through affects thermal comfort, energy movement, and air quality through complex molecular interactions described most accurately by fluid dynamics models but that are relatively intangible on a daily basis. How amazing is it then to see that our bodies are in constant interaction with the air around us. To the atmosphere, the human body is a giant heat plume. 

The video below shows the human body as it heats the surrounding air. Watch as plumes of warm air rise from the head, face, shoulders, hands. As you watch think about how much heat our buildings shed into the environment when the inside temperature is maintained at 72°F and the exterior temperature is 32°F!


This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 9:13 am and is filed under Environment, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

4 Responses to “The Human Body’s Heat Plume”

  1. Ben says:
    February 16, 2009 at 1:54 am

    Where is this video from? Who made it? Do you have a citation? How was it made? Have you found similar videos?

    If it doesn’t require specialized equipment, I would love to make videos like this myself, in order to get a better sense of the heat in our environment.

    Thanks,

    Ben

  2. Varma människor « MiljöBloggAktuellt says:
    May 5, 2009 at 10:34 pm

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  3. Greenline The Human Body Heat Plume | Shed Kits says:
    May 27, 2009 at 2:21 am

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  4. Greenline The Human Body Heat Plume | Portable Greenhouse says:
    June 1, 2009 at 10:23 am

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