Thing You Thought You Knew – Red Hot, Blue Hot

What It Covers

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains three counterintuitive scientific concepts: the microscopic scale of molecules using Avogadro's number and water molecule calculations, the physics of color temperature where blue objects are hotter than red ones, and how food degrades through both biological contamination and quantum mechanical processes called tunneling.

Key Questions Answered

• •Molecular scale comprehension: A single cup of water contains more H2O molecules than there are cups of water in all Earth's oceans, meaning every glass you drink contains roughly 100 molecules that passed through the kidneys of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln or Genghis Khan due to molecular redistribution over time.
• •Avogadro's number application: One mole of carbon weighs 12 grams (one-third of an ounce) yet contains 6.022 times 10 to the 23rd power molecules, a quantity 100 times larger than the number of stars in the observable universe, demonstrating why molecules remain invisible despite their ubiquitous presence in matter.
• •Color temperature physics: Objects glowing at 1,500 degrees Celsius emit red light, while objects at 20,000-30,000 degrees emit blue light, making blue the hottest visible color. Photographers incorrectly label 6,000-degree lamps as cool daylight and 3,000-degree lamps as warm, inverting the actual temperature scale for artistic purposes.
• •Biological food preservation: Chemical and biological processes double their rate every 10 degrees Celsius, which explains why refrigeration extends food life. Ultra-pasteurized milk lasts significantly longer than regular pasteurized milk because irradiation removes more initial microbes, delaying the doubling time required to reach spoilage threshold concentrations.
• •Quantum food degradation: Even vacuum-sealed, irradiated food eventually degrades through quantum tunneling, where molecules transition to lower energy states by passing through energy barriers. This chemical decomposition changes food texture over years, making long-term space mission food storage require consideration beyond simple microbial contamination prevention.