What is 1600°C?

1600°C is super hot, like when something is so hot it can melt metal.

Imagine holding a pan on the stove after it's been heating for a really long time, that’s about 200°C. Now imagine that pan being heated until it starts to glow red, and then even hotter than that. That’s about 1600°C! It’s like standing right next to a fire that’s burning so strongly it feels like it wants to pull the heat out of your skin.

If you’ve ever seen a light bulb glow really bright, or watched a metal spoon bend when it gets hot in soup, you've had a little taste of what 1600°C is like. At that temperature, metals melt, and some rocks can even catch fire. It’s the kind of heat you’d need to make something like a spaceship engine or steel for bridges, really strong stuff!