Why Do Teeth Chatter in the Cold?
You must have come across headlines like "Bone-chilling cold disrupts daily life" in the newspaper. But cold essentially does not shake your bones. It feels that way when the chill has reached right to your bones through your flesh, but all of us know the phenomenon of chattering teeth. On a chilly day, our teeth knock against each other out of our will. Why does this happen? Warm-blooded animals, also known as endotherms, produce body heat internally. Most mammals, including humans, and few insects are endothermic. They cannot perform their bodily functions unless the body temperature is maintained within a range. This is called thermoregulation, or "heat control." We do a lot of physiological and habit-forming actions to increase the body's temperature. Shivering is a physiological activity. Wearing warm clothes is a habit. Imagine not wearing warm clothes in freezing weather and not doing anything to keep yourself warm. Under these conditions, your brain will...