Let's Bust A Myth: Will molten metal always burn you?

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All summer, we've been taking your suggestions as to what myths our STEM team should try busting in honor of our MythBusters exhibition! Earlier, we figured out whether your stomach will really explode if you eat Pop Rocks and soda, and whether it's really possible to walk on egg shells.

Now it's time for the final myth before the MythBusters exhibition closes September 4, submitted by Steven P: Will molten metal always burn you?

Check it out:

As you can see in the video, this myth is BUSTED! Molten metal will not always burn you.

To understand this myth, it's important to know about matter. Matter is literally everything around you, and it all comes in different states (i.e. solid, liquid, gas, plasma). These are referred to as the states of matter.

Everything has a point where it can go from one state to another by adding energy (heat). For example, if you add enough energy to a solid metal, it has a point where it will become a liquid metal.

And that's exactly what happens in this video, with a type of metal called gallium. The point at which gallium goes from a solid to a liquid is about 85.6ºF. The average normal body temperature of a human is 98.6ºF. Since our body temperature is warmer than that of molten gallium, it will not, in fact, burn human skin.

Typically, when we think of solid metals turning into liquid metals, we think of very high temperatures where the metal turns bright red in color. While this is the case for some metals, it isn't the case for all of them. Myth busted!

Thanks to everyone who submitted myths to us this summer. Experience MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition at Liberty Science Center through September 4.


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