A childhood warning that has become a subject of study
It’s a warning familiar to every child who has grown up in cold climates: never stick your tongue to frozen metal. Of course, this warning often comes a little too late—right after someone has already tried it. Upon contact with the icy metal, the tongue sticks instantly. Panic sets in, and the first instinct is to yank it away to free yourself.
Why does the tongue get stuck?
A Curiosity Born in the Norwegian Cold
The spark for this scientific investigation came from a childhood memory. Anders Hagen Jarmund grew up in Hattfjelldal, a small town in Norway where winters are particularly harsh. Like many children in his region, he once wanted to test the truth of the warning for himself. “I’m from a small place called Hattfjelldal, where it gets pretty cold in the winter,” he says. “I don’t remember if it was a traffic sign or a streetlight behind the school, but I remember licking it and my tongue sticking to it.”
While talking with his friends, he realized he wasn’t the only one. “It was something my friends had also experienced, actually, and we wondered then if it was really dangerous to have your tongue stick to a streetlight or a railing,” he continues. Years later, after studying medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Jarmund and several of his colleagues decided to explore the issue with the necessary scientific rigor, and were surprised to find that medical journals contained virtually no research on the subject.
Tracing the History of the “Tundra Tongue”
Patterns quickly emerged from the data. Five-year-olds were the most frequently reported victims, and boys accounted for about 60% of the cases. “I’m not surprised that the majority are boys,” Jarmund comments. “The fact is, I’ve had my own little experience with tongue freezing.” The researchers also discovered that science had already given this condition a name: “tundra tongue.”
While most cases ended without serious injury, with only a bit of embarrassment as an aftereffect, about 18% of the incidents still required a visit to a doctor or the hospital. The main problem in those cases was “avulsion”—that is, tissue tearing caused by pulling too hard to free the tongue.
The Laboratory Experiment: 84 Pig Tongues to the Rescue
To understand the physics behind the “tundra tongue,” an experiment was necessary. But conducting it on human subjects was out of the question. “We doubted that an ethics committee would approve human volunteers for this,” explains Anders Hagen Jarmund. After determining that pig tongue tissue was the most similar to human tissue, the team obtained eighty-four pig tongues from a certified slaughterhouse near Trondheim.
The experimental protocol was meticulously prepared. The scientists used force sensors, temperature controls, and an infrared camera to precisely observe what was happening at the moment of contact. To make the conditions even more realistic, they even donated their own saliva. “And they were pretty cheap,” adds Jarmund, referring to the tongues. “But I’m not sure there’s a huge market for pig tongues.”
What the tests ultimately revealed
The team also identified a temperature range that poses a particularly high risk for this type of injury, between -5 and -15°C (23°F and 5°F). More surprisingly, the researchers noted that when the metal was extremely cold, the risk of tearing decreased slightly. The hypothesis put forward is that under these conditions of intense cold, the tongue freezes more solidly and more deeply, which paradoxically makes it more resistant to being torn off.
Patience: Your Best Ally When Dealing with Frozen Metal
Ultimately, science confirms what common sense and popular experience have long suggested. Most of these incidents are not dangerous if handled calmly. The key is patience. Anders Hagen Jarmund’s advice is simple and straightforward: “Try not to panic. I remember the panic—you’re there and your tongue is stuck to the metal. But above all: Don’t pull your tongue too quickly.”
Source: earth.com
Tongue Stuck to Frozen Metal: What Science Is Finally Teaching Us
