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How hot is that Chili?

We had a conversation last night at our new years BBQ about how the heat of a chili is measured, so I thought I'd post this here snippet from wikipedia on the topic.

"The Scoville scale is a measure of the "hotness" or, more correctly, piquancy of a chili pepper. These fruits of the Capsicum genus contain capsaicin, a chemical compound which stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin..."

Scoville rating	Type of pepper
15,000,000–16,000,000	Pure capsaicin
9,100,000	Nordihydrocapsaicin
2,000,000–5,300,000	Standard U.S. Grade pepper spray
855,000–1,041,427	Naga Jolokia
350,000–577,000	Red Savina Habanero
100,000–350,000	Habanero chili, Scotch Bonnet
100,000–200,000	Rocoto, Jamaican Hot Pepper, African Birdseye
50,000–100,000	Thai Pepper, Malagueta Pepper, Chiltepin Pepper, Pequin Pepper
30,000–50,000	Cayenne Pepper, Ají pepper, Tabasco pepper
10,000–23,000	Serrano Pepper
7,000–8,000	Tabasco Sauce (Habanero)
5,000–10,000	Wax Pepper
4,500–5,000	New Mexican varieties of Anaheim pepper
2,500–8,000	Jalapeño Pepper
2,500–5,000	Tabasco Sauce (Tabasco pepper)
1,500–2,500	Rocotillo Pepper, Sriracha
1,000–1,500	Poblano Pepper, Texas Pete sauce
600–800	Tabasco Sauce (Green Pepper)
500–2500	Anaheim pepper
100–500	Pimento, Pepperoncini, Tabasco sauce
0	No heat, Bell pepper

Being a weak gwei lo, my tolerance of chili was about as pathetic as it could be until I moved to Malaysia, now I'm happy to say, it's certainly improving, but I'm not sure when (if ever) I will ever be able to eat pretty much anything in the above list. But I am getting better, and that's a good thing, right? :)

read the full wikipedia article here