Lets say its 100-110 degrees outside. Yeah its hot, but I can stand it. But when I touch a surface at that same temperature, it hurts and i cant stand it. What’s the difference?
In: Physics
There’s been similar questions already answered here, you might be able to find them, but to sum it up, it boils down to this:
We don’t feel temperature. What we feel is the transfer of heat. So for example, if it’s freezing outside and you touch a wooden bench – you can feel it’s cold, right? Now touch a metal pipe of the exact same temperature, and it’ll feel way colder. We know they’re the same temperature, so the only difference is at what rate is the heat transfer happening.
So to answer your question, transfer of heat from the air to your body is slow, so you feel slightly warm. But if you touch an object of the same temperature or submerge yourself in water of the same temperature, it’ll feel way hotter, because the rate of heat transfer from the object or water to your body is faster than with air.
Keep in mind, when something is hot to you, you’re cold to it.
If there’s cold air outside, your body is warming up the air immediately touching you. It doesn’t take much “heat” to warm up air. Compare that to water, or even worse a solid and all your body head will dump into the cold object without doing much to warm it up comparatively.
The opposite is also true for heat. 100 degree air is typically warmer than your skin, but either way, it’s reaching an equilibrium point by dumping heat into your skin while your skin gets warmer. Eventually the air around you isn’t 100 degrees anymore, rather you’re surrounded by a small layer of “cooler” air compared to the air in general.
This by the way, is also why things like wind chill and humidity matter. With cold air, your body warms the air around you so it doesn’t “feel” as cold. But if the wind is blowing hard, that warm air keeps leaving and it “feels” colder.
With warm hair, humidity matters because there’s more water in the air, which means that there’s more “heat” in the air around your skin.
That’s why it feels hotter on a humid day and also feels colder on a windy day.
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