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
Our experience of cold is based on how quickly our skin cools down.
The experienced cold = temp diff times heat transfer coefficient.
air has very low heat transfer coef, water has higher, some metals has very high.
Thus in a 22degree room the air will feel like nothing on your skin, since it barely cools your skin down faster tahn you yourself heat it up, but 22degree water will feel cooling since it steals your heat faster, and 22degree metal will feel even colder..
In a 60degree sauna, the air will feel warm against your skin and will eventually heat you up over time, water is scalding and burn you in a short time, metal will burn you even worse than the water does.
its simple math, heat transfer times temperature difference.
Tile is a good conductor of heat, so it pulls the heat out of your feet very quickly, and your feet feel cold.
If you step on an insulating material (a poor conductor of heat) of the same temperature as the tile, there will be very little heat transfer, so your foot will stay the same temperature and won’t feel cold
The tile floor is cooler than your body, and it is good at absorbing and conducting heat. What you feel as cold it simply heat leaving your body faster than usual.
You don’t feel absolute hot or cold, you only feel the rate at which heat is leaving (or entering your body)
That’s also why water feels cooler than air of the same temperature
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