The threshold of pain is the point at which pain begins to be felt. It is an entirely subjective phenomenon. The intensity at which a stimulus (e.g., heat, pressure) begins to evoke pain is the threshold intensity. So, if a hotplate on a person's skin begins to hurt at 42°C (107°F), then that is the pain threshold temperature for that bit of skin at that time. 42°C is not the pain threshold, it is the temperature at which the pain threshold was crossed.
The intensity at which a stimulus begins to evoke pain varies from individual to individual and for a given individual over time.
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Famous quotes containing the words threshold of, threshold and/or pain:
“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail—its roof may shake—the wind may blow through it—the storm may enter—the rain may enter—but the King of England cannot enter!—all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!”
—William Pitt, The Elder, Lord Chatham (1708–1778)
“I am admonished in many ways that time is pushing me inexorably along. I am approaching the threshold of age; in 1977 I shall be 142. This is no time to be flitting about the earth. I must cease from the activities proper to youth and begin to take on the dignities and gravities and inertia proper to that season of honorable senility which is on its way.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Eloquence is a way of saying things in such a way, first, that those to whom we speak may listen to them without pain and with pleasure, and second, that they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads them more willingly to reflection upon it.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)