Do Emergency Blankets Actually Work? I put one to the test

[@vickieadams6648]

I like how you set this experiment up. I know the blankets don't have any padding, so it will be hard sleeping on the ground. I read one review and the guy said that one tends to sweat a lot, because there's no way for moisture from the body to get out. He said he had to empty his blanket out each morning. Can't imagine doing that when it's already cold outside.

[@Nerding4Nature]

Ya. It’s definitely good to have some layers between this and your skin. I’ve used it as a blanket over my legs and thick hiking pants while waiting for someone to summit when I was getting altitude sickness and it wasn’t as effective as using it over snow pants and a big puffy jacket.

[@carlbernsen1290]

Great video! What most people who carry space blankets don’t realise is that in a real world situation only a small part of body heat is lost via direct radiation. Hot skin radiates a lot but any clothing or insulation absorbs the radiated waves and the outer surface of clothing radiates very little. Laying down in a space blanket or bivvy just conducts heat away like crazy and convection removes most of the rest. The way it actually works to make you feel warmer is to reduce air movement which keeps warm air in your clothing longer. This is useful but if your clothing isn’t warm enough for the ambient temperature you’ll still get cold. It’s great at reflecting radiant heat away, like a sunshade, that’s what it was designed to do in space. Can I suggest another experiment? For all those survivalists who carry axes and saws and talk about how they can make a natural shelter and keep warm with a fire, test to see how many calories it takes to build a properly warm and dry debris shelter from sticks and leaves and gather a night’s firewood, and compare that with the calories used to carry say 10 pounds of lightweight tent, mat and sleeping bag for 6 hours of walking. My rough calculations tell me the shelter builder uses about 10 times more calories than the shelter carrier.

[@Nerding4Nature]

That's a good idea. I think a lot of the survivalist folks just like building shelters and practicing the skill. Nevertheless, it might alter how they pack their bugout bags.

[@goranmekota7540]

Those are good with radiated heat and wind protection, but help very little with surface heat transfer. I would therefore assume a significant difference with jars on snow or outside but on a more isolating surface, as well as having them tight on jars or with air in between.

[@HaphazardHomestead]

I think they are worth carrying, just because they are so small and lightweight. Years ago, my mom used one overnight on a freezing night of camping in Florida. Because of a warmer camping trip in her recent past, all she had brought to sleep in was a flannel sheet. I loaned her my space blanket and she crinkled all through the night. But she will attest that it was warmer than not having that space blanket. I do caution folks to check their space blankets over the years, though. I've had some delaminate after a few years. And those aren't worth much then! Stay warm -- with some good socks! : )

[@Nerding4Nature]

That's a great pointer. I get them as stocking stuffers from time to time but have only unfolded two. The rest have been folded up for years in who--knows-what condition.

[@KrizAkoni]

So, we learned the mylar actually does something...and might be as good as a sock, which is pretty darn good for what little mass it has. Bravo! 🤓

[@Nerding4Nature]

Well, almost as good as a sock. Still worth their weight though.

[@mozarkoutdooradventures3630]

Cool thoughts and information. Next time my feet get cold while camping, I will tell my fellow campers that my feet feel like jello. If they don't understand I will send them the link to your video.

[@BackpackerDiaries]

This video brought back fuzzy memories of vodka jello shots in my younger years. That said, it's nice to know that the warmth to weight ratio for those space blankets is pretty good. No wonder it's used to insulate sleeping pads. Thanks for the effort in putting this together.

[@Nerding4Nature]

Ya, I probably should have added vodka to the Jello :D

[@ShlisaShell]

Best way to satisfy one's curiosity. Great job on the hypothermic Jello experiment!

[@Nerding4Nature]

Jello solves all problems :) Thanks for watching.

[@shovelhead8]

You have four identical socks? Lucky! Good test, and it confirmed what I thought. Thank you for the video, Carley

[@Nerding4Nature]

Only because they are great socks. I bought my first pair over 10 years ago because they were the cheapest of the wool hiking socks. A few years later, I bought two more pairs. They are all still in decent shape (though the first pair a bit droopy). They were a great investment.

[@EconoChallenge]

I really liked this idea. Green Jello for dessert. I did not need another guess. LOL

[@Nerding4Nature]

I had green Jello coming out of my ears by the end of the week. lol.

[@akdriller8806]

Got snacks anyways! I have never used one as a wrap but as a reflector from the fire they are top notch! Keep it up Carley! My daughter loves the neck wrappy thing I got from ya!

[@Nerding4Nature]

Glad she's liking it. I've lost mine now, lol.

[@Roqueta22]

Very clever, and a good study. The only problem I see in regards to being effective or not effective is that there is no creation of heat in the test subjects (Jello). If the idea of a mylar blanket is to insulate and reflect the radiant thermal heat. It would make sense that the test subject must have some form of the generation of heat. Being that Jello lacks that biological feature to self-generating heat, it seems this test has more to do with the loss of heat over time rather than an ability to survive with a functional biological heat generation.

[@Nerding4Nature]

You make a good point. Hot Jello still does radiate heat, though, even if it's not producing it. Without a large number of people to test on I figured Jello would be a fun substitute. Obviously, a person would last longer than Jello, but I think I would have similar results in respect to which ones froze first. Also something to consider is that a person in late-stage hypothermia isn't producing much of their own body heat anymore

[@CreativeRedundancy]

great experiment... get it as close to the skin as possible without directly touching it, and insulation backing it up helps.

[@Nerding4Nature]

That’s what my gut would say. It still would have liked to have that portion of the experiment work.

[@aywithbeard]

So banket work ?

[@sosteve9113]

Great test,the thing I know about them are,never put them directly against your skin and they rip very quickly lol Nerding for nature ,great new name 👍

[@Nerding4Nature]

Thanks Steve. Glad you like the name change :D

[@ArbitraryExploration]

This was fascinating to watch. I was not sure about the little folded blankets and their effectiveness.

[@Nerding4Nature]

For what they weigh, I’d say they are definitely worth it.

[@RockyMtnGobblers]

So I have used these emergency blankets wrapped around my sleeping bag camping in a tent they work amazingly well you will unzip your sleeping bag because you get so warm winter camping but they need some body heat to work properly they do cause condensation so they don't work very well just over a light jacket you will get wet but over something like a sleeping bag you will stay dry

[@Nerding4Nature]

I used one underneath me in a snow shelter and it made a world of difference, but it didn't seem to do much when I was trying to warm up the lower half of my body just wearing pants with no base layer.

[@RockyMtnGobblers]

@@Nerding4Nature I would just recommend wrapping it around your sleeping bag there will be condensation I have tried wrapping it around a light jacket and there was just too much condensation

[@pacificbushcraftandfirecra6358]

Very cool sciencing indeed! Very interesting and tasty to top it off! TFS

[@Nerding4Nature]

Silencing is always fun when there is a snack involved :)

[@BluecollarBackcountry]

I feel much better about my Jello now. 😉 Neat idea Carley and pretty good info.

[@Nerding4Nature]

You mean you felt bad about Jello before? oh dear! ;)

[@smetlogik]

2:19 😮 5:13😂 "most of us" Great Experiment. Someone got rich off those "space blankets" back in the day. Cool to see you back on the YTubes. Look forward to seeing what's on that website.

[@Nerding4Nature]

Well, I learned today that June 21st is hike naked day. Seems a poor choice. The bugs aren't usually quite so bad at the end of summer.

[@theidahonian5321]

Very well thought out! And I’ve missed you!!!

[@Nerding4Nature]

Thanks. Hopefully won't be so long this time.

[@Love2Wander]

Hey long time no see very cool experiment and thanks for sharing

[@Nerding4Nature]

Ya, it’s been a while. I keep saying I’ll be back soon, but life is busy over here.

[@isobelle-hepsyjones3300]

Great video very informative I have a few of these myself!

[@Nerding4Nature]

Thank you :)

[@truenorthliving9557]

Cool project... great info Carley

[@Nerding4Nature]

Thanks Norm.

[@HikeCamp]

Interesting test method... 👌

[@Nerding4Nature]

Any experiment that ends in a snack is a win :D

[@HikeCamp]

😃

[@Scoutforlife]

Excellent as allwAys. So they work!

[@Nerding4Nature]

Thanks Mark :)

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Great experiment! Lazy jello… seriously great experiment!

[@Nerding4Nature]

Thanks :)

[@PREPFORIT]

Great experiment. The conditions are more real than any Lab. Even if you are not re- wrapping them the same That is good because people in the woods/ outdoors do not re wrap themselves the same way. Jell-O is better than you or a volunteer getting sick ! : )

[@Nerding4Nature]

That’s true. Still, to know that it works when all the controls are the same would have been much more definitive.

[@deuceaid6868]

Well , still looks like a frost bitten nose, put some mylar on that, and on your cutchee.

[@TomBryan]

Miss your content. Hope everything is well.

[@Nerding4Nature]

Aww, thanks. My next video is getting close to being ready, Hopefully, I'll be back in the swing of things after that.

[@Earthpet711]

It's probably not a good comparison for humans because humans generate Heat at different rates and the gloopy stuff didn't generate heat at all so there wasn't much less to reflect.

[@Nerding4Nature]

It's not a perfect comparison, but without a large number of warm-blooded test subjects (and I'd need quite a few as, as you said, not all humans produce heat at the same rate). By using jello instead of people, I can eliminate on the variability in heat generation or cold tolerance and just focus on heat loss.

[@WyeExplorer]

'All my jello's.' They sound like something huggable Carley. Mind you some were I think in the experiment if they were human. Interesting comparisons - I'd definitely have some socks in there alongside the Mylar. All the best. Mark

[@Nerding4Nature]

Well, those jars are pretty cute. I'd say they are pretty huggable :P Thanks for stopping by, Mark.

[@WyeExplorer]

@@Nerding4Nature It was the Jello Carley - sounded kinda playful and warm. Good point made though..

[@brianfloresta2986]

Wouldn’t they do better with humans being that we generate our own heat? I always thought the reason these work is cause they help keep your body heat in

[@Nerding4Nature]

A person would certainly last longer than the JELLO for that reason. The principal is the same though. Heat from the JELLO is being reflected, whether it's making new energy or not. If we wanted to know exactly how effective it was on people, I would need a much larger sample size (to make up for variability in people's metabolism), and I don't have enough friends willing to sit outside wrapped in a space blanket for hours waiting for hypothermia to kick in, lol.

[@spijkerpoes]

Science is fun! If you don't like it, you'd better bugger of!😁🤘🏻🤔👍👍👍👍

[@Nerding4Nature]

Exactly. Maybe that should be my new tagline :D

[@spijkerpoes]

@@Nerding4Nature kzbin.info/www/bejne/boS5aHaCnd2XjqM

[@HuplesCat]

In all seriousness write this up with loads of stats and submit it to a science journal. Definitely get an ignoble!

[@Nerding4Nature]

But writing it up and doing stats is the unfun part of science :P Glad you think it's worthy :)

[@DannyRiskit]

Science adjacent !

[@paulezay3599]

This makes no sense your experiment. None of your items produces heat there for the blank it will not work it needs some type of heat to rejuvenate more heat

[@Nerding4Nature]

There is still heat coming from the Jello. It’s not continuing to produce heat, but neither is a person with hypothermia (or at least they are producing less than they are losing). People also stop producing heat eventually. This experiment just speeds up the process. It doesn’t matter if the jello is producing energy because we are just looking at the energy being lost.

[@MajeedJiskani]

Why American people look so sad

[@Nerding4Nature]

I'm not sure of you're calling me unhappy or American, but I assure you that I am neither.