• Question: what is the warmest ever recorded temperature?

    Asked by lupopippa to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hi lupopippa,

      It’s about 55°C measured in Saharan Africa, which is the hotest place on Earth. The best for the UK is about 35°C. I strongly suspect that all these records will be broken over the coming 20 years and because of satelites we have a really great way of measuring the temperatures all over the globe, so anywhere can set a new record!

    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hey lipopippa,

      I think James Pope gave a good answer for this one so I cant really add to that. But I will tell you when i went to the met office one of the technicians told me that he went up to check on one of the instruments they use to measure temperature and he forgot to close it properly. He then watched the news that night and was very shocked to see that the weather forecast said that they had a summer high temperature (much higher than other places that day) at the instrument he had been to that day…..

    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Well lupopippa, do you mean on the surface of the earth? In the middle of the planet? In the whole solar system?

      The hottest weather on earth is, as James P has said, about 55 degrees C. However, the magma that comes up from a volcano can be at over 1000 degrees. But the earth is hottest at its middle: our iron core has a temperature of about 5000 degrees. We have a machine in our department that can simulate the pressure and intense temperature of the core, so that scientists can work out what the conditions in the core must be. It needs diamonds to work, it’s a really impressive bit of kit!

      But the hottest temperature in the solar system must surely be in the sun’s corona, which is at a temperature of 5 million degrees! Which is something to think about next time you’re getting a tan on a sunny beach somewhere – remember that sunscreen!!!

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