Will mold die from heat？

Orange high temperature warning !

Orange high temperature warning !

Orange high temperature warning !

The World Meteorological Organization predicts that this year the world will experience the hottest summer on record. Last summer's heatwave that sent temperatures approaching 47°C in several European cities is set to strike again, if not worse. After having the second-warmest 2019 on record, it's quite possible that we're going through the hottest year on record.

So how hot is this year? As soon as the northern hemisphere entered the summer solstice, Verkhoyansk in Siberia, Russia recorded a high temperature approaching 38 degrees! It broke the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic Circle. You know, that's the North Pole! The annual average temperature in the Arctic is between -15°C and -20°C, and the average temperature in August, the warmest month, only reaches -8°C. The lowest temperature measured on the drifting station near the Arctic Ocean pole is -59°C.

The global heat has also created excellent conditions for forest fires. Except for the

Australian wildfires and Amazon rainforest fires that swept through the circle of friends ,in fact, the Arctic rarely encounters more than 100 wildfires.

The weather is so hot, some people will ask, will mold be killed by heat?

Mold is a common name for filamentous fungi, which means "moldy fungi". They can often form branched and lush mycelium, just like seeds that take root when they fall to the ground. Once the spores of molds meet the right conditions, they will "fall to the ground and bloom." , the black spot that everyone usually sees is not a mold, but an entire mold forest. Especially in humid and warm places, some visible fluffy, flocculent or cobweb-like colonies grow on many items, that is, mold.

The most suitable temperature for the reproduction of most molds is 25 to 30 ℃, below 0 ℃ or above 30 ℃, no toxin can be produced or the virulence is weakened. That is to say, molds have weak vitality at high temperatures over 30 °C, and may also cause cells to lose water due to lack of water, increase intracellular salt concentration or protein denaturation, resulting in inhibition of life activities or gradual death.

But how tenacious is the vitality of mold? As long as the conditions are right, they will come back to life again! So do you think the heat will kill the mold? It will make a comeback later on!

Therefore, the high temperature of 47 °C will not kill the mold, but it will temporarily inhibit the reproduction of the mold. Only when the temperature reaches 80 °C or higher, some molds will be killed by the high temperature, reducing the possibility of cross infection. Of course, there are also more stubborn molds that need scientific mold removal.

It is difficult for mold to be heated to death under normal temperature, so can it be frozen to death? In fact, microorganisms have amazing adaptability to environmental conditions, especially harsh "extreme environments". 100°C or 200°C can also survive.

So under no circumstances can we relax our vigilance against mold. What we need to do is to prevent mold in advance and scientifically prevent mold.