Wait! What?? You didn't know that?? Dogs know that when it gets too hot, they can't sweat, so they begin to pant. There is some evaporation going on...the drool on the dog's tongue is being evaporated, the energy it takes to make the drool a vapor actually cools down the dog!!
Let me try and explain this phenomena...when a water molecule goes from a liquid to a gas, it takes heat "with it". It takes energy to break those bonds and release the gases hydrogen and oxygen. As they float into the atmosphere, that heat follows it. So, the poor overheated dog that begins to pant has water, or drool, all over his tongue. When he starts to pant because his body is overheated, his tongue is overheated and the drool begins to break apart into hydrogen and oxygen gas. As the heat leaves with the gases the dog actually cools down.
Think about your own body when it gets all sweaty. The same thing is happening. Our pores open up and water comes out of the pores and sit on our skin. The temperature of the sweat is about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or more. As the sweat molecules break apart into hydrogen and oxygen gas, the heat goes with the gases and we feel cooler. Some cross country runners sweat so much, after they cool off they have a tiny bit of salty residue on their skin because the salt in our bodies doesn't evaporate with the H2O...it turns into a solid salt!
Toodle-loo heat! Buh-bye gases!
That's why dogs do that so much.
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