Why does cold tap water feel warm when your hands have been colder for a while?

Question

Why does cold tap water feel warm when your hands have been colder for a while?

In: Biology

Answer 1

* Humans can’t sense temperature directly.
* We can sense a difference in temperature.
* So while the temperature of the tap water doesn’t change very much, it will feel hot if your hands are cold, and feel cold if your hands are hot.
* There is a super simple experiment you can try to prove this.
* Get three bowls.
* In the first bowl put warm water.
* In the second bowl put room temp water.
* In the third bowl put cool water.
* Stick one hand in the warm water and the other hand in the cool water and hold them there for a few min.
* Now put *both hands* in the room temp water.
* One hand will feel warm and one will feel cool even though they are both in the same bowl of water.