Cold Metal
Most recent answer: 10/22/2007
- scott (age 13)
pontiex high school, canada
Mike W.
By the same token, if the metal and the wood are hotter than your hand, the metal will feel hotter than the wood.
Tom.
(published on 10/22/2007)
Follow-Up #1: feeling heat of metal
- john zimmerman (age 64)
willows ca usa
It's the same reason as the cold metal feels colder. Metal conducts heat better than wood. So even when the metal and wood are at the same tmperature, you feel the temperature of the metal more.
Mike W.
(published on 05/25/2017)
Follow-Up #2: water condensing on metal
- Scott (age 60)
Australia
Nice question!
I think you're asking why the water condenses on the metal rather than just condensing as droplets in the air, if they're both the same temperature. Partly, it's because it's hard for those droplets to get started without someting special for them to form on- dust, metal, etc. That's because if a few water molecules get together the energy they lose doesn't compensate for the entropy they lose. A drop only starts to grow after it reaches a critical size, and unless the vapor pressure is way above saturation that happens rarely. It also helps that the metal can quickly conduct away the latent heat that gets released when molecules start to condense together, kepping the drop from heating up. So that is related to our feelings- both depend on thermal conductivity.
Mike W.
(published on 09/17/2018)