Thermal Dissonance: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Simply put, an object or person exhibits Thermal Dissonance when its not the temperature it should be. It's true that some objects have a very low thermal conductivity, but these objects don't heat up or cool down no matter how long they spend in a hot or cold environment. They somehow seem able to defy conventional thermodynamics and ''choose'' what temperature they want to be, because of this the object can be a piece of hyper advanced [[Phlebotinum]], an [[Ancient Artifact]] or stranger fare. When touched or held it is either much warmer or colder than the ambient temperature would indicate, with no obvious reason for this temperature difference. A sufficiently powerful Thermally Dissonant object may also be able to change the temperature of its surroundings, freezing an active volcano or melting a glacier if dropped in.

* In ''[[The Waterboy]]'', Bobby gives Vicky Valencourt a bottle of water that is extremely cold at all times, even though it's kept in a room-temperature environment. Supposedly this is because it was blessed by an Eskimo medicine man.

* The machine room door in ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* This is played both ways with the Slytherin Locket Horcrux in ''[[Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows]]''. It is described as being cold to the touch, yet at one point it burns Harry's chest, leaving him with yet another scar.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Used in Classic series of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' where Timelord healing can involve developing a frost on your skin (Jon Pertwee adventure "The Daemons" and "Planet of the Daleks"), the Doctor's inhumanly low body temp also gives him away in the Colin Baker adventure "Mark Of The Rani".

 

== [[Video Games]] ==