How hot do flames have to be to disfigure you?

College Confidential Community
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<p>I know that this is a really random question but I didn’t know where else that I would get an answer to this online besides a medical forum. Anyway, I’m taking a chemistry lab class right now, and we used this Bunsen burner in class today. The thing heats up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. I almost screwed up and it almost burned the side of my face. Now I was lucky and I didn’t get burned. However, it now has me asking a question: If the Bunsen burner had crossed paths with my face would it have left permanent scarring if I got immediate medical attention and it only came into contact with my face for a second?</p>

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<p>First of all, this ain’t exactly a medical forum, although there are some doctors, some future doctors and their parents post here. One of them might give you the answer, provided you somehow assure them that they aren’t solving your homework problem for you:D</p>

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<p>i dont know the answer but one of the concepts to think about is how quickly/effectively heat is transferred from one source to another. It’s not just the temperature that matters but also the amount of heat energy moved. If you whisked the burner across your face, my guess is you wouldn’t burn yourself, but if you left it there for some amount of time (probably only a matter of seconds) then yes you would disfigure yourself. Boiling water is only 212 degrees Fahrenheit and yet it can leave scars if large amounts wind up on you but when you reach into an oven that’s 450 degrees you don’t instantly fry.</p>

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<p>@kal123</p>

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<p>I’m a computer science major. So I don’t know anything about this sort of thing. I don’t have to take any medical classes. </p>

<p>@I wanna be brown</p>

<p>Yeah, thanks for the answer. I just am trying to almost figure out an equation for this sort of thing. I’m just terrified of disfigurement that’s all.</p>

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<p>no need for equations, just keep the fire away from your face :)</p>

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<p>Keep fire away from your face. </p>

<p>Direct contact with flames to the skin is much more damaging that putting your hand in a very hot oven. There’s a big difference with “hot air” and flames/hot surfaces. If you put your hand in a hot oven for a second, you’ll feel heat but not burn, however, if you were to touch the interior of the oven or the racks, you would burn.</p>