The sun warms up our planet but space is cold. If I lit a candle and stood 20 feet away, I could see the light but not feel the warmth. So, why do we feel warmth from the sun but space isn’t warmed by it?
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You know how the toilet seat feels cold when you first sit down but warm when you stand up? That’s because you “warmed it up” right? What does that mean? It means that heat was transferred from you to the toilet seat. This is something that always happens when two things touch. The thing that is warmer transfers heat to the thing that is cooler.
It’s that transfer of heat that we experience when we touch something that feels hot or cold. If we touch something that is cooler than us, the moment we touch it, heat transfers away from us and into it. That loss of heat feels like cold to us.
The reverse is also true. Have you ever played in the snow and then come inside and washed your hands with “cold” water? The water probably felt warm (or even uncomfortably hot) because your hands were actually colder than the cold water.
On earth, the air feels warm when the particles in the air (warmed by the sun) are warmer than your skin, so when they touch your skin, heat is transferred to you.
In space, however, there are no particles in the air. There’s not even any air. There’s nothing there to touch. There is nothing for heat to transfer to, so it is impossible for it to “warm up.”
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