Eli5: Temperature?

Question

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

Answer 1

A thermometer measures its own temperature. Its own temperature would rise or lower to the temperature of the environment faster in water than in air.