Radium wrote:

Bob wrote:

On 16 Dec 2005 22:37:41 -0800, "Radium" <gluceg...@excite.com> wrote:

Okay but what other symptoms would occur? Would the skin texture
change? If so, how?

By the rules you established, who knows.

Why do you say that? Wouldn't denaturing the proteins cause a change in
skin texture? I assume [but DON'T *know*] that the skin would soften
and liquify [given that -- under my rule -- the proteins can't
coagulate].

I answered the melanin question because it is specific. One could
study this in the lab... heat melanin under conditions as desired and
see what happens.

I've seen burn wound look 'scary' white. Sometimes it looks like white
foam. Once, I was burnt by a hot plate. The wound did look white and
foamy for a while. Why does this happen? [NOTE: this is NOT under my
rules!!!]

Skin is part of a complex biological system,

True.

and your groundrules
essentially say to ignore everything we know.

How so? It is possible in injure only one organ system w/out injuring
other systems.

But that's not what you're proposing. An "organ system" is a collection
of tissues. You are proposing damage to a specific *tissue* in an organ
system, not to the organ system.

If you scratch your arm, you will see two things happen. The area
around the scratch will first turn whitish, and then it will turn red
and inflamed. Both of these are stages in a highly complex immune
response involving the release of histamines in the area of the wound.
Neither of these changes is particular to the damaged tissue itself,
but illustrates the complexity of the *organ system* that is the skin.

In answer to your question about what would happen to your burnt
tissues in a week, it would turn black and begin to smell very bad as
bacterial decomposition sets in.

See "gangrene" and "frostbite" for
what happens to dead tissue as a function of time.

PD

Of course, burning the skin would effect the rest of the
body. The nerve endings would be stimulated they would carry info to
the brain. The subject would then feel the pain, obviously. So yes,
affecting the skin can INDIRECTLY affect other organs [like the brain
in the case of tactile perception]. I never said that it wouldn't. I
DID say that it won't *injure* other body systems.

What is the point? Sometimes people actually have a purpose for the
question, then contrive a question that per se makes little sense, and
does not lead to what is wanted anyway.

Well, I am interested in the hypothetical. Its like Sci-Fi sometimes. I
know it sounds crazy I am interested in wierd things.