If heat is the measure of atomic kinetic energy and cold is technically the lack of heat then how can we feel radiated cold? Like if you put your hand near some ice you can feel the cold? How can the lack of something radiate?
In: Physics
You radiate infrared, losing heat in the process.
Objects around you are also radiating infrared.
Normally, those objects are around the same temperature as you, so you are absorbing about as much infrared as you are losing, so you feel neutral temperature.
If something is cold, it’s not giving as much infrared back, so you are experiencing a net loss of infrared in the direction of the cold object. It feels like the object is radiating cold.
Latest Answers