why does 60 degree water feel freezing compared to 60 degree air?
In: Chemistry
Two reasons:
1. The water touches your skin everywhere because it gets through your clothes and
2. it conducts heat faster than air, which is a gas.
The air doesn’t touch your skin where it’s covered by clothes. There’s a layer of warm air (warmed by your skin) between you and the clothes you’re wearing that insulates you. Being nude in 60 degree weather would be pretty cold, but it would still take much longer to feel as cold as 60 degree water because water conducts heat much faster than air. Liquids conduct heat faster than gases and solids conduct heat faster than liquids. (Conductivity goes solid>liquid>plasma>gas, and it’s because of the way molecules line up in those states.).
This works the other way, too. You can survive for awhile in 140+ degree air (as long as it’s low enough humidity and you’re drinking enough water), but if you’re in a 140+ degree pool, you’re going to die pretty damn quickly. Like five to ten minutes to full-body deep-tissue burns…
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