eli5: Why is 70 degree F water so much colder than 70 degree F air?

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I can hang out buck naked in 70 degree F outside all day but not touching 70 degree F water.

In: Earth Science

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s the rate of heat transfer.

Liquids are much denser than gases. Picture liquids as a plastic ball pit, and gases as a mostly empty room with a few pingpong balls being tossed around inside.

**70F air**: You are standing in a room where 2 or 3 people are tossing 70F pingpong balls at you. Your own temp doesn’t change much because there aren’t many impacts.

**70F water**: You are submerged in a ball pit of 70F balls. Hundreds are contacting your skin all the time. You cool off much more quickly.

Also the way you *feel* the temp of things is actually related to the *rate* of heat transfer in/out of you, not the thing’s actual temp! Imagine a wooden toilet seat vs a cold plastic one. Both are the same temp but the wood one transfers your heat away slower, so it feels warmer. Go outside in the winter and compare touching a tree and grabbing a metal railing. Both are the same temp but the metal feels WAY colder, same reason.

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