brain exercise

[shiato storm]

ever wondered why fingers and toes go all wrinkly in the bath and no where else on the body??

sorry, its been bugging me for ages.

[Slick]

I dunno but I found out yesterday my fingers are double jointed

[5lab]

i believe the answer is something like this - your skin absorbs water and gets saturated, like if you put some paper in the bath it goes soggy - basically thats happening to your skin. now logically i recon it might only happen to your fingers/toes cos they're the place with the greatest surface area/stuff underneath ratio, which means the skin is more dense so the effect is more visible? but i might be wrong

[silent ben]

/me directs everyones attention to scientific american.

http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_quest...ID=3&topicID=3

[Stringent]

Its to do with osmosis.

Definition

Osmosis is the passage of water from a region of high water concentration through a semi-permeable membrane to a region of low water concentration.

[5lab]

but that doesnt answer why only fingers

[Punky]

i'm guessin its because....
fingers have a thinner layer of skin on em so they can be more sensitive to touch n that, which is obviously their purpose. because there is a thinner membrane, water molecules can move in and out easier. and because their is a lower conc. of H2O inside the body than in the bath, water from outside moves in cos of the concentration gradient n diffusion n that (can tell i do A2 biology...advanced terminology )
thats what i recon anyway, dunno if its right or not.

[[GSV]Trig]

Originally posted by Slick
I dunno but I found out yesterday my fingers are double jointed

There is no such thing as double jointed actually, your just flexible, if you were truly double jointed you would be able to move your fingers back over the top of your hand as you can clentchin your fists into the palm of your hand...

/useless picking

[Trash Man]

I've got a question I would like to put to the brilliant mids here at Hexus.

Why do you love the smell of you own farts but no one else's?

[liquid-fix]

This thread just reached a low...
[edit] but its prolly along the lines of everything u can do i can do better, would mean swallowing a lot of pride if u didnt like em [/edit]

[Punky]

Originally posted by Trash Man
I've got a question I would like to put to the brilliant mids here at Hexus.

Why do you love the smell of you own farts but no one else's?

for the pride factor of droppin a beast! my farts are always rank, i don't like the smell at all, but i still have a sniff to check they are still stinkin properly.

[Trash Man]

You know it's a bad one when you can't stand it your self.

[Slick]

Originally posted by [GSV]Trig
There is no such thing as double jointed actually, your just flexible, if you were truly double jointed you would be able to move your fingers back over the top of your hand as you can clentchin your fists into the palm of your hand...

aww...I thought I was special

[shiato storm]

but if the skin on the fingers absorb water, or let it through at least why not else where?
Skin is essentially a water proof layer over the body - if you jump into a swimming pool or if it rains do you swell up? no. i'v just looked at sci american (thanks silent ben) and it appears to make sense that the skin layer only swells and wrinkles where the subcutaneous tissues remain protected from moisture...if they got wet too they'd be buggered all the time.

[Stringent]

The tips of fingers and toes are covered in a tough, thick layer of skin which, when soaked for a long time, absorbs water and expands. However, because there is no room for this expansion the skin buckles, hence the wrinkles.

Another:

Even though you can't see it, your skin is covered with its own special oil called sebum. Sebum is found on the outermost layer of skin. Sebum lubricates and protects your skin. It also makes your skin a bit waterproof. That's why getting caught in the rain, hopping in the shower after a game, or washing your hands before dinner won't leave your skin soggy. Sebum is there to keep the water out.

But what happens when you spend a long time in the water? Well, there's only a particular amount of sebum on your skin at a time. Once the sebum is washed away, the water can make its way into the outer layer of skin. The water does this by osmosis. This is when water actually moves from one thing into another, from a place where there is more water to a place where there is less water. There is more water in the pool than there is in your body, so it naturally moves to the place where there is less water - you!

Although your fingers may look shriveled like raisins, they aren't really shriveled - they're actually waterlogged! The extra water in your fingers causes the skin to swell in some places but not others, and that's what causes the wrinkles.

It isn't just pool water that washes away the sebum. Sitting in the bathtub for a long soak can also wash away the sebum and leave a kid with soggy skin. Washing dishes for a long time, scrubbing and rinsing your puppy, cleaning the gravel in your aquarium - anything that keeps your hands in water long enough will give you wrinkly fingers.

What should you do if you come out of the pool looking like a raisin? Not a thing! Having wrinkly skin after a swim or bath doesn't mean there is anything wrong, and it goes away by itself quickly. You'll have more sebum on your skin in no time. If you really can't stand the raisin look and will be doing something around the house that keeps your hands in water, you can wear rubber gloves to keep the sebum from being washed away.

[shiato storm]

ah cool. yeah cause I was doing a project on skin blood flow for my MSc and was curious about this wrinkling thing in the bath...