Why do certain materials/surfaces always feel ‘cool to the touch’ at room temperature (like glass/granite)
In: Physics
Our bodies produce more heat than they need, and so are constantly venting heat to the atmosphere. Your sense of how hot or cold something is is less based on absolute temperature and more based on how quickly heat is drawn away from your body.
Air is a poor conductor of heat and has a low heat capacity, meaning it doesn’t draw heat away from your body and itself heats up relatively quickly (further slowing the heat draw). Granite, glass, water, and other materials, conversely, can absorb a lot of heat, and do so very quickly. Even if granite is the same temperature as air, it will absorb a lot more heat, and faster, than air can, so it feels cooler to you (because it’s actually cooling your skin down faster).
Latest Answers