If air and the water are existing in the same climate, why does water feel so much cooler than air? Why can we take a dip in a pool (even an above the ground pool) and feel cooler? Does the top of water provide some sort of defensive shield, so only a thin, undetectable layer of water is as hot as the air?
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We don’t feel hot or cold, we feel the rate at which we lose heat (or gain it).
Water can hold a lot of heat energy, and it’s also a good conductor of heat, so it feels cold because it’s drawing heat away from our bodies faster than the air does.
The same applies to a fan, making the air feel cooler. The air around our bodies that we heat up gets replaced quickly with new air, which can carry more heat away from us.
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