From my understanding, good heat conductors like metals are cold to the touch because they transfer heat from your hand more efficiently than non conductors such as wood. However, glass is also cold to the touch but is not a good heat conductor. Why is that the case?
In: Physics
It’s not as good of a heat conductor as metal but it’s still a decent heat conductor compared to materials like plastic or wood. It feels cold when your hand is warmer than the glass.
Glass is a MUCH better conductor of heat than the air, even a bit better than your fingers.
There are a couple other parts to this, one is how much energy it takes to heat a given mass by one degree(specific heat), and how much mass is in a given volume(density). Glass is closer to metals than air on these aspects.
Basically, how cold something feels to the touch depends on how much of it is getting warmed by your touch, and by how much energy it takes to change its temperature.
Conductivity of glass is about 10x that of wood, calling it a bad conductor of heat is not really accurate.
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