Ice Cold Trivia

1. TRUE OR FALSE: You have to use the bathroom more when you are cold?

The answer is TRUE. When you're exposed to cold weather, your blood vessels constrict, and the flow of blood to the skin is reduced, resulting in an overall slowdown of the circulatory system and a rise in blood pressure. To reduce this pressure, the body wants to get rid of as much fluid as possible through urine production. This phenomenon, known in medical terms as cold dieresis, explains why you may have to visit the bathroom more often when it's cold.

2. What are cold water swimming organizations known as in the United States and Canada?

A. Eskimo Clubs
B. Walrus clubs
C. Ice Swimming Clubs
D. Polar Bear Clubs

The answer is D. Polar Bear Clubs

3. What is the common name for the condition horripilation?

The answer is Goose bumps. It is a temporary reaction of the tiny muscles at the base of the hair follicles covering the human body, to a stimulus such as cold, excitement or fear. When stimulated, the nervous system sends a discharge to these muscles causing them to contract, which in turn raises the follicles above the skin.

4. How is wind chill determined?

The answer is Wind Chill Equivalent is a calculation of how cold it feels outside when temperature and wind speed are combined.

5. TRUE OR FALSE: If someone has hypothermia you should warm their arms and legs first.

The answer is FALSE. You should warm the person's upper body first. Arms and legs should be warmed last because stimulation of the limbs can drive cold blood toward the heart and lead to heart failure.

6. How is Arctic or extreme cold classified?

A. -20 degrees Fahrenheit
B. -10 degrees Fahrenheit
C. 0 degrees Fahrenheit
D. 5 degrees Fahrenheit

The answer is A. -20 degrees Fahrenheit

7. Where was the coldest temperature on earth recorded?

A. Canada
B. Siberia
C. Vostok, Antarctica
D. Iceland

The answer is C. Vostok, Antarctica at a brisk -128.6 °F

8. What is the common name for the condition sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia?

The answer is Ice-cream headache or brain freeze. It is a form of brief cranial pain or headache commonly associated with consumption of cold beverages or foods such as ice cream. It is caused by having something cold touch the roof of the mouth and is believed to result from a nerve response causing rapid dilation and swelling of blood vessels  or a "referring" of pain from the roof of the mouth to the head.

9. Which of the following is not effected by wind chill?

A. A Dog
B. A Polar Bear
C. A Car
D. A Bird

The answer is C. A car because wind chill is the combination of wind and temperature and is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin such as that of a person or animal. Wind chill has no effect on cars or other objects.

10: TRUE OR FALSE: It has snowed in every state in the United States except Hawaii.

The answer is FALSE. Even Hawaii gets snow on the mountains.