History Main / ThermalDissonance

* In a typical live action SuperHero series, such as ''Series/{{Batman}}'' or ''Series/TheFlash'', someone on a hot day suddenly finds some slick or crusty white material in a non-refrigerated environment and as they are feel it, they say in disbelief, "Ice??" Of course, that means there is a [[AnIcePerson cold themed supervillain]] on the loose for that story.

* In ''UltimaUnderworld II'', one of the keys is described as feeling "unnaturally cold to the touch".

* Freezer burns.

* in ''SpyKids 3D,'' they jump into lava, but it's freezing cold
* In ''TheWaterboy'', 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 ''ForbiddenPlanet''.

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 AncientArtifact 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.

* This is played both ways with the Slytherin Locket Horcrux in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. It is described as being cold to the touch, yet at one point it burns Harry's chest, leaving him with yet another scar. Justified, as not only is the locket imbued with very powerful Dark magic, it has something of a mind of its own -- and a spiteful, cruel one at that.

--> -- '''Aqualad''', ''Comicbook/YoungJustice''

* This is played both ways with the Slytherin Locket Horcrux in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. It is described as being cold to the touch, yet at one point it burns Harry's chest, leaving him with yet another scar. Justified, as not only is the locket imbued with very powerful Dark magic, it has something of a mind of its own -- and a spiteful, cruel one at that.

* The [=DeLorean=] in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' follows this, though you can see the effect a little bit.

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

->''"This platform, it should be red-hot, but it is cool to the touch."''

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* A thermal tile from the Space Shuttle can be glowing ''yellow-to-white-hot'' on the inside, but you can still pick it up with your bare hands because it has extremely poor thermal conductivity.

* The coasts of Northern {{California}} may ''look'' sunny and bright as early in the year as February. However, the horrific wind chill often forces everyone to keep wearing thick coats.

** Quite a lot of creatures have the "fixed body temperature" tag, which does exactly what it says, including Magma Men and Fire Men. Interestingly they can still affect the temperature of other things even while their own stays the same, letting them [[NoConservationOfEnergy spontaneously create or destroy and potentially infinite amount of heat.]]

* The [=DeLorean=] in ''BackToTheFuture'' follows this, though you can see the effect a little bit.

--> -- '''Aqualad''', ''Comicbook/YoungJustice''

Since temperature doesn't transmit well through [[ShowDontTell visual media]], characters who come in contact with the Thermally Dissonant object have to [[LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe outright state]] that it's unusually hot, cold, or body temperature. The character will touch the object and either rapidly pull away their hand commenting on it being too hot or cold, or incredulously grab it since it ''isn't'' as hot or cold as it should be. If the object is worn or carried, it ''never'' changes temperature either.

Related to EvilIsDeathlyCold and ConvectionSchmonvection.

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!!Examples:

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* The [=DeLorean=] in ''BackToTheFuture'' follows this, though you can see the effect a little bit.
* in ''SpyKids 3D,'' they jump into lava, but it's freezing cold

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* 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.

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* Used in Classic series of ''Series/DoctorWho'' 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".
* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', John (human) has a completly different body temperature than the outwardly human Peacekeepers (who have something of a weakness to heat), which gives him away since [[BigBad Scorpius]] has infrared vision.
* In a typical live action SuperHero series, such as ''[[Series/{{Batman}} Batman]]'' or ''[[Series/TheFlash The Flash]]'', someone on a hot day suddenly finds some slick or crusty white material in a non-refrigerated environment and as they are feel it, they say in disbelief, "Ice??" Of course, that means there is a [[AnIcePerson cold themed supervillain]] on the loose for that story.

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* In ''DwarfFortress,'' the deepest level of the caverns has some giant mushrooms called nether-caps which have the property of always being cold, to add to their creepyness. Interestingly, this means that it is impossible to set nether-cap logs on fire-- they stay just as cold even when they're at the bottom of a pool of magma.

* [[MacGuffin The One Ring]] in ''LordOfTheRings'', Gandalf throws the ring into Frodo's fireplace, then fishes it out and demonstrates to Frodo that the ring is still as cool as if it was never dropped into the red hot coals.
** Which is actually realistic. Metal won't heat up much by lying only 10 seconds in a small fire.

* In ''{{Megamind}}'', when Roxanne discovers the "abandoned" school is not-so-abandoned because there is ice in the water!

* In a typical live action SuperHero series, such as ''[[Series/{{Batman}} Batman]]'' or ''[[Series/TheFlash The Flash]]'', someone on a hot day suddenly finds some slick or crusty white material in a non-refrigerated environment and as they are feel it, they say in disbelief, "Ice??" Of course, that means there is a cold themed supervillain on the loose for that story.

* The rocketpack from ''TheRocketeer'' remains cool even after flight. It's later explained by Howard Hughes that the rocketpack has a double-walled chamber into which the fuel is pumped, cooling the chamber while preheating fuel simultaneously, to HandWave the possibility of ToastedBuns.