Why does the amount of humidity in the air affect comfort moreso than the temperature?
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Check out “Wet Bulb” temperature.
Basically, you wrap the bulb of a thermometer in a water-soaked cloth and put a fan in front of it.
If the thermometer is in a low humidity environment, the moisture from the cloth has the ability to transfer to the air around it via evaporation and therefore will be cooler than the environment… So you’ll get a reading on the thermometer that’s lower than the temperature.
Put that thermometer in a high humidity (100%) environment, where there’s excessive moisture in the air and the moisture from the cloth can’t be transferred to the air via evaporation and so the temperature of the environment will be the temperature of the wet cloth.
So, the higher the humidity, the less capable of cooling via evaporation.
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