imagine im in a kitchen. if i touch a paper plate, it feels lukewarm. if i touch a knife, it feels kinda cold. why do they feel like different temperatures?
In: 4
You feel heat transfer. If you lose too much heat, you feel cold. If you can’t get rid of heat quickly enough, you feel warm or hot.
Metal transfers heat faster than paper, therefore, metal takes away your body heat faster, which is why it feels colder to touch.
A fun fact on the side – if you put an ice cube on metal, it will melt faster than the same ice cube on paper plate despite the metal plate feeling colder. The reason is the same – there’s faster heat transfer going on between the ice cube and the metal plate.
You feel heat transfer. If you lose too much heat, you feel cold. If you can’t get rid of heat quickly enough, you feel warm or hot.
Metal transfers heat faster than paper, therefore, metal takes away your body heat faster, which is why it feels colder to touch.
A fun fact on the side – if you put an ice cube on metal, it will melt faster than the same ice cube on paper plate despite the metal plate feeling colder. The reason is the same – there’s faster heat transfer going on between the ice cube and the metal plate.
Because of conductivity.
You aren’t feeling the temperature, you are feeling the transfer of heat between your hand and the object. Room temperature is colder than your hand, and a room temperature peice of metal will suck the heat away from your hand than if it were wood of plastic.
The same goes in the opposite. If the object were hotter than your hand, the metal would feel hotter, as it would transfer the heat to your hand faster than wood or plastic.
If almost the object were the same temperature as your hand, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Because of conductivity.
You aren’t feeling the temperature, you are feeling the transfer of heat between your hand and the object. Room temperature is colder than your hand, and a room temperature peice of metal will suck the heat away from your hand than if it were wood of plastic.
The same goes in the opposite. If the object were hotter than your hand, the metal would feel hotter, as it would transfer the heat to your hand faster than wood or plastic.
If almost the object were the same temperature as your hand, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Because of conductivity.
You aren’t feeling the temperature, you are feeling the transfer of heat between your hand and the object. Room temperature is colder than your hand, and a room temperature peice of metal will suck the heat away from your hand than if it were wood of plastic.
The same goes in the opposite. If the object were hotter than your hand, the metal would feel hotter, as it would transfer the heat to your hand faster than wood or plastic.
If almost the object were the same temperature as your hand, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
**THE MATERIAL MATTERS.**
I’m going to copy-paste an [answer I gave to someone else](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11rwytn/eli5_why_does_jumping_into_a_pool_that_is_the/jcatsa1/). They asked why the pool water feels a different temperature than the air, when we know they’re both the same temperature.
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#ELI5
Reach into a hot oven, but don’t touch anything. Just hold your hand in there. It’s hot, but you don’t have to yank your hand out, it doesn’t hurt too much. You can leave your hand in that oven for a good 60 seconds. Right??
Now reach into that same hot oven, and touch the baking sheet in there. Ouch! The baking sheet burned your hand! And it burned it right away! Right??
Why?
* The baking sheet transfers heat to your skin FASTER than the air inside the oven does.
* The air inside the oven transfers heat to your skin SLOWER than the baking sheet does.
* But both the air and the baking sheet are the same temperature.
* So what gives?
**The material matters!**
**Metal transfers heat faster than air.**
Ooooh, but this works in the opposite way too!
Put your hand into the freezer, but don’t touch anything. Cold, but not “cold cold”. Right?
Now touch an ice cube. It’s a LOT colder, right?
Actually it just feels a lot colder. Again, the material matters!
Here, it’s air versus ice. The difference is that the “heat transfer” is actually going from your skin to the ice/air, and before we had heat being transferred to your skin from the baking sheet.
————–
OKAY … back to your question! Pop quiz time! And remember, the material matters!
Which transfers heat more quickly to/from your skin, a metal knife or a paper plate?
**THE MATERIAL MATTERS.**
I’m going to copy-paste an [answer I gave to someone else](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11rwytn/eli5_why_does_jumping_into_a_pool_that_is_the/jcatsa1/). They asked why the pool water feels a different temperature than the air, when we know they’re both the same temperature.
————————-
#ELI5
Reach into a hot oven, but don’t touch anything. Just hold your hand in there. It’s hot, but you don’t have to yank your hand out, it doesn’t hurt too much. You can leave your hand in that oven for a good 60 seconds. Right??
Now reach into that same hot oven, and touch the baking sheet in there. Ouch! The baking sheet burned your hand! And it burned it right away! Right??
Why?
* The baking sheet transfers heat to your skin FASTER than the air inside the oven does.
* The air inside the oven transfers heat to your skin SLOWER than the baking sheet does.
* But both the air and the baking sheet are the same temperature.
* So what gives?
**The material matters!**
**Metal transfers heat faster than air.**
Ooooh, but this works in the opposite way too!
Put your hand into the freezer, but don’t touch anything. Cold, but not “cold cold”. Right?
Now touch an ice cube. It’s a LOT colder, right?
Actually it just feels a lot colder. Again, the material matters!
Here, it’s air versus ice. The difference is that the “heat transfer” is actually going from your skin to the ice/air, and before we had heat being transferred to your skin from the baking sheet.
————–
OKAY … back to your question! Pop quiz time! And remember, the material matters!
Which transfers heat more quickly to/from your skin, a metal knife or a paper plate?
**THE MATERIAL MATTERS.**
I’m going to copy-paste an [answer I gave to someone else](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11rwytn/eli5_why_does_jumping_into_a_pool_that_is_the/jcatsa1/). They asked why the pool water feels a different temperature than the air, when we know they’re both the same temperature.
————————-
#ELI5
Reach into a hot oven, but don’t touch anything. Just hold your hand in there. It’s hot, but you don’t have to yank your hand out, it doesn’t hurt too much. You can leave your hand in that oven for a good 60 seconds. Right??
Now reach into that same hot oven, and touch the baking sheet in there. Ouch! The baking sheet burned your hand! And it burned it right away! Right??
Why?
* The baking sheet transfers heat to your skin FASTER than the air inside the oven does.
* The air inside the oven transfers heat to your skin SLOWER than the baking sheet does.
* But both the air and the baking sheet are the same temperature.
* So what gives?
**The material matters!**
**Metal transfers heat faster than air.**
Ooooh, but this works in the opposite way too!
Put your hand into the freezer, but don’t touch anything. Cold, but not “cold cold”. Right?
Now touch an ice cube. It’s a LOT colder, right?
Actually it just feels a lot colder. Again, the material matters!
Here, it’s air versus ice. The difference is that the “heat transfer” is actually going from your skin to the ice/air, and before we had heat being transferred to your skin from the baking sheet.
————–
OKAY … back to your question! Pop quiz time! And remember, the material matters!
Which transfers heat more quickly to/from your skin, a metal knife or a paper plate?
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