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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
Some people have walked on hot coals. They do this as a kind of spiritual experience. Let me say, right now, that I admire the courage it takes to walk on hot coals. Way to go. We are told that this is an example of "mind over matter," that your mind can actually protect the skin of your feet from being burned. Close. It is actually mind over your fears, much like jumping out of an airplane with a parachute, or bungee jumping. These can all be spiritual experiences, and rightfully so.
These hot coals have a very high temperature (over 1000 degrees F. or 540 degrees C.). But individually, these coals have very little heat. And they transfer very little heat to your feet.
We need an analogy. I am cooking a pizza in my oven, at 425 degrees (235 degrees C.). It is cooking away. And I open the door to the oven, and put my hand inside, being careful not to touch anything. I wasn't burned. But, I did touch something. My hand was touching air molecules, and they were 425 degrees. Believe me. If I had held my hand there for a long time, my hand would have slowly warmed to 425 degrees, and cooked, just by contact with this 425 degree air. There is radiating heat from the hot metal of the inside of the oven, too. But the hot air is sufficient to cook my hand. The air has a high temperature, but has very little heat. If my hand doesn't stay in the oven, then it hardly gets warm. This is the same situation with the hot coals.
How about another analogy. Most of us have handled sparklers (those fireworks thingies). I was amazed, as a child, when the sparks bounced harmlessly off my hand. These sparks are little bits of hot metal, at a very high temperature. But, they are so small, that they have very little heat.
Another analogy, if I put my hand in boiling water, I can be severely scalded. But, when one drop of this boiling water splashes onto my hand, the pain is momentary and not very severe. I got only a small amount of heat from that drop of water.
Addendum:
When people walk on hot coals, there is a lot more going on than the above high temperature, low heat situation that I describe above. More important may be a couple of ways in which your feet are insulated from the bare coals. There is a lot of ash, on your feet and on the coals, which is good insulation. Also, the hot coals do not conduct heat well; of course you would be severely burned if they were bits of hot metal. But, I still think that the individual coals have relatively low heat, and that that is an important factor.
By the way, there is plenty of heat there altogether, and it is possible to get badly burned if you don't get a move on.