why does hot water burn my cold hands after i’ve been outside for a long time?

Question

i also heard the trick that if you come inside from cold temperatures you should only wash your hands with cold water until the numb sensation goes away. why is this?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Your body doesn’t actual sense temperature but differences in temperature. Well, more specifically it sense the rate of heat transfer. And that is directly proportional to differences in temperature. The higher the difference in temp the higher the rate of heat transfer.

So if you hands are cold and you use hot water that’s a big temperature difference. So you perceive it as extra hot.