Why can my mouth deal with higher temperatures than my fingers. Food that burn my fingers don’t seem to bother my mouth.

Question

Why can my mouth deal with higher temperatures than my fingers. Food that burn my fingers don’t seem to bother my mouth.

In: 3

Answer 1

Water is a good conductor of heat, and has a very large large heat capacity and latent heat of vaporization, which in simple terms means it’s very good at cooling stuff

You mouth is covered in mostly water so this means it’s gonna conduct the heat away from the food and prevent it from directly touching your mouth

Answer 2

Saliva is water and conducts heat very efficiently, conversely your bare skin doesn’t get that mitigating heat benefit.