How to leave a child alone in a car in hot weather?

Young children if in a car with such a high temperature, the body temperature will increase rapidly and when passing 40 ° C, heat stroke will occur.

In the United States alone, more than 900 children have died from such causes since 1990 until now. Also according to NoHeatstroke.org , nearly 74% of deaths are in children 2 years and under. These cases occur when a child is left in a car under hot weather because the adult forgets or sometimes he accidentally enters inside the car without the door without an adult. Or sometimes there are parents who leave their children in the car thinking that they will just go somewhere for a while and come back immediately.

However, Nathan Allen, an emergency specialist at the University of Chicago warned: "There is no safe time to leave a child alone in a car."

Leaving a child alone in a car can be dangerous to a child's life.(Illustration)

Children are more vulnerable and are at higher risk of heat-related diseases than adults because their bodies produce more heat than body size. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that children 's bodies heat up 3-5 times faster than adults . In addition, the child's ability to cool through sweat is not developed as an adult. Therefore, a child who is left on a car too hot for only a few minutes is extremely dangerous , even fatal.

According to the Omni Calculator , many experiments have shown that even on a cool summer day, the temperature inside a sealed vehicle can quickly exceed 52 ° C. The reason why the temperature in a car is hotter than the surrounding environment is because the greenhouse effect occurs in the car, which is the main cause of global warming.

Car windows operate similarly to Earth's atmosphere; they are almost transparent to light radiation (short wavelengths), but prevent thermal radiation (long wavelengths) from leaving. Therefore, solar radiation passes through the window and heats up the car's interior equipment, for example, dashboard, seat or floor. These devices then emit thermal radiation, but it is blocked by the car window. This traps the heat radiation in the vehicle, causing the car's temperature to rise significantly.

Children are very susceptible to heat and measures such as parking in the shade or opening windows cannot prevent a tragedy from occurring.

To illustrate how vulnerable children are, the Omni Calculator analyzes what happens and how quickly if you leave your child alone in a car.

When the child is in the car and the outdoor temperature is 19 ° C

• Within 60 minutes, the body temperature is 38 ° C, children are sweating and thirsty.
• After 90 minutes, the body temperature is 39 ° C, the child is sweating profusely, flushing and increasing the heart rate. The child may have seizures and may start twitching.
• After 150 minutes, body temperature is 40 ° C, fainting, dehydration, weakness, vomiting, shortness of breath all occur and are life-threatening.

On a cool summer day, the temperature inside a sealed car can quickly exceed 52 ° C.(Illustration).

When the child is in the car with an outdoor temperature of 24 ° C

• Within 40 minutes, children will sweat, thirst and risk hypothermia.
• After 60 minutes, the child sweats a lot, flushes, the heart rate rises, and the child may have seizures and convulsions.
• After 90 minutes, the child may be life-threatening and include fainting, dehydration, weakness, vomiting and shortness of breath.
• After 160 minutes, children suffer from severe headache, dizziness, confusion, hallucinations and delirium.

When body temperature surpasses 40 ° C, heat stroke can occur. That overwhelms the control of brain temperature, causing symptoms like dizziness, disorientation, agitation, confusion, slowness, convulsions, loss of consciousness, even death.

The Omni Calculator also shows that sun visors and tinted windows can slow the speed of a car's temperature rise slightly, but the final internal temperature remains almost the same.

When the body temperature is over 40 ° C, heat stroke will occur.(Illustration).

Handle when a child has heat shock

• Children should be removed immediately from the high temperature environment to the place of shade, remove clothes. Apply a cool towel or flush the water on a young person.
• Give children water (no alcohol, caffeine or stimulants) if they can drink it.
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation if the child is not awake and does not breathe.
• Let the child go to a health facility if the child is still unwell.

Why sleep in cars is deadly?