How do thermometers work and how do they calculate what “it feels like.”

Question

Checking my phone for the temperature, I see that its currently 91 degrees but it feels like 99. Got me wondering how thermometers work/how they came to be and how they calculate “what it feels like.”

In: Technology

Answer 1

Thermometers often exploit the fact that materials expand/contract depending on temperature, and different materials do it at different rate. The “feels like” temperature is a mix of the real temperature and the humidity. Humidity decreases the ability for sweat to remove heat from the body, so it makes the body heat up more than the same temp with low humidity.