In a room where the temp is constant and everything is at equilibrium, why does a tile floor feel colder?

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In a thermodynamic class I took in 1989, the professor was talking about the transfer of heat and someone asked this question. The prof. didn’t attempt to explain it because it was off topic from the lecture, but he did say the answer had a more complex biological reason, and not that the floor was actually colder.

In: Biology

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The tile and the air in room are same temperature (say, 22°C). Your body is warmer than both (cca 36°C). Some materials are better at leaching warmth from you than others. Air in particular is shit (an insulant), so most room-temperature objects feel a bit cool to touch, compared to touching nothing/air. Metals in particular are very good at this (i.e. they “conduct heat well”)

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