Even if they are the same temperature the reaction to them is starkly different.
In: Biology
Well when you’re in a tub or pool, you’re almost naked. When you’re in hot air … are you naked?
Also, are you really sure that hot air and hot water AT THE SAME TEMPERATURE feels different?
My thoughts are that you can get out of the bath/shower whenever you choose. However, when the weather is hot and humid you can’t just leave the weather
Hot water feels good because it warms your skin evenly and keeps it moist, which is soothing.
Hot air feels bad because it heats unevenly, can dry out your skin, and makes you sweat, which is uncomfortable.
Air is an insulator, which is to say it is relatively poor at transferring heat. You can be blasted in the face with 400°F air when you open the oven and be OK, but if you were splashed with even 200°F water you would be seriously burned.
This goes both ways. You are fine standing in a 70°F room, even naked, but being immersed in 70°F water would feel very cold because it is allowing heat to transfer out of you much more quickly.
Our bodies produce heat as a byproduct of our metabolism and we need to constantly shed it to our environment. The rate of heat transfer increases with the difference in temperature, and since air is so bad at transferring heat we need a significant difference to reach a comfortable rate. Water though is much better at transferring heat so we can shed body heat at a comfortable rate even when the water is much closer to body temperature.
We might for example be able to shed as much body heat into water at 85°F than we can into air at 70°F due to how bad air is at exchanging heat.
I would say it’s about context. When you are in hot water you are doing something relaxing 95% of the time, showering, bathing, hot tub etc.
Many people also find hot air to feel good when relaxing, just look at all the people that use saunas, steam rooms, lay in the sun at the beach, etc. I also find hot air better for exercising than cool air, it makes me feel more loose and the sweat feels great, almost cleansing. Exercising when it’s cold feels stiff and then when I inevitably sweat it makes it even colder.
Hot air only feels horrible when you are trying not to sweat like at work or when dressed formally like for a summer wedding.
??
Hot air is wonderful
Hot air feels amazing. What are you talking about?
Two parts:
Specific Heat Capacity: How much energy a medium can store
Thermal Conductivity: How easy a medium transfer the energy it stores from Highest to Lowest.
This is why a book at 70f and a frying pan at the same 70f feel different. The pan takes the 98.6f heat from your body via conduction faster than the book so initially the pan feels cooler.
Air versus Water is like Book vs Frying Pan until the heat energy reaches equilibrium or your body adapts to the temp.
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