I feel stupid to ask but here goes.
So you can sit in a sauna where the thermometer measures the air at 80oc, and it’s fairly comfortable. But if you sit in water which a thermometer measures at 80oc, you die pretty instantly.
So I get that water is denser and so transmits heat faster – but then… what is the thermometer measuring if not heat transfer???
Tia
In: Physics
The thermometer is measuring the temperature, not heat transfer. How well heat is tranferring only affects how long it takes for the thermometer to register a change in temperature, not the stabilized reading. The mercury or alcohol expands in higher temperatures. It’s inert. Your body is not a thermometer. Your internal body temperature is regulated. In a sauna, your body sweats and that sweat evaporates off your skin which keeps your body cool. In a hot tub, you’re already in water. sweat cannot evaporate when it’s surrounded by water. And water transfers heat much faster than air. So your internal body temperature is going to go up more in water that is above your internal body temp than air.
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