ELI5, Why does it appear we dry off faster after being totally submerged rather than partially wet? I.E. why is air drying off after a shower slower than a bath?

Question

My hotel room has a bathtub/shower in it. Normally when I shower I have to consciously dry off with a towel for a long period, however after taking a bath I was nearly completely dry before the water even drained and I barely had to use a towel! Is there some… weird hydrodynamics at play?

In: Physics

Answer 1

I can think of two things that would affect it:

* Showering will increase the humidity of the air much more than taking a bath will. Humid air is less likely to absorb water, so you will dry slower.

* You will likely be warmer from the bath than from the shower, also speeding up the evaporatio.

Your idea about hydrodynamics is interesting, but I can’t come up with a theory for how that would work.