All related- Why does lower temperatures and higher humidy feel so hot? Is overheating when hiking as dangerous or more likely in no humidity or high? How does sweating help cool you down?
In: Biology
Water carries heat. A lot of it. It really, really, REALLY loves to soak up heat. When this happens, the water turns into vapor. It’s like when you put a hot pan under a faucet. The heat from the metal moves into the water, and the water vaporizes and bubbles and floats away.
That’s what is happening when you sweat. Your body excretes water. It takes energy to evaporate water off of your skin, and that energy is heat. As your excess body heat is used to convert beads of water (sweat) into vapor, you start to cool down.
Okay, cool… So why does humidity suck so bad?
The problem with humidity is that the air is already full of warm water vapor. At very high humidity, your sweat can’t evaporate because the air has already reached its maximum water capacity. And because it can’t evaporate, it can’t carry your excess body heat away. Therefore, overheating is MUCH more likely to happen in high humidity.
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