(didnt know the right flair)
I am european so i write in celcius!
I am curious how we perceive temperatures (if thats the correct way of putting this).
We have given temperature a standard number for us to make is easy to name it. So 37 degrees (bodytemperature) is for everyone the same.
But how does it work when we give it the names “hot” and “cold”? for example: When you want to take a bath 37 degrees is the minimun temperature for it to be nice, maybe a little higher for your liking, but whenever the news will announce that the temparature outside wil be 37 degrees the next week, we will call it hot. 24 degrees wether is nice wether, but 24 degrees water for a bath is cold.
But its the percieving side of it that i dont get. How is that so different for different surroundings?
In: Other
How you feel when in contact with something, that includes air. is not directly proportional to its temperature. What is relevant is how fast it transfers heat to and from you. I disagree water need to be 37 C to be nice, I prefer cooler water.
A typical hair dryer output air at around 70C and it is warm when you start to blow it on your skin. Compare it to water at 70C which will scold you. The difference is that water contains more thermal energy and transfer it to you at a higher rate. Another example is an oven where the air is over 200C and feeling hot bull will not damage you immediately, compare that to touching hot metal in an oven that have the same temperature and you get immediate burn damage. The metal heats you up faster.
Over time air can heat you up so if you were in a room at 70C for a long enough time it would increase your body temperature and you would die. For a short duration, a hot room like that can be nice and we call them saunas. A room is different from the outside air temperature because you can not escape the outside air as easily. e A sauna is nice for a couple of minutes the you go outside and cool down. A warm bath is nice to because you can easily get away. You can’t get away from the hot outside air unless you go inside to a air-conditioned or otherwise cool indoor space.
Your body produces a lot of heat and it needs to be removed. If you are in a medium that is 37C you can get rid of it without sweating and water evaporating. That will not happen in a pool, so saying to long in water that warm will result in you internal body temperature rising higher and it can be dangerous.
There is another factor, how is temperature measured? In the water is is just the water temperature, that is easy.
But air temperature is just the temperature of the air measured in shade, when you are outdoors you are often in sunlight and that will heat you up. It is not included in the air temperature measurement. Compare how if feels on the shaded side of a house compared to the side in direct sunlight and you will notice the difference in the sun.
Hot and cold is alos what is expected, if your food is too cold it can still be warmer than what you consider a warm day, It is just cooler the you like it to be. For some drinks we prefer them to be below body temperature and others above so a warm beer can be room temperature exactly the same temperature as cold coffee
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