Question #aa702
1 Answer
What we perceive as hot/cold is the flow of thermal energy. Metal being good conductor of heat allows thermal energy to flow readily than wood. Consequently metals feel colder than wood in cold weather and warmer than wood in hot weather.
Explanation:
What we perceive as hot and cold is the flow of thermal energy. It is NOT temperature as many wrongly believe.
If the thermal energy flows out of our body, we perceive it as cold. If the thermal energy flows into our body we perceive it as hot.
Two objects may be at the same temperature (say wooden cot and metal cot on a winter day). But metal being a good conductor of heat, allows heat to flow readily through it. So the rate at which thermal energy flows from our body into the object we touch, is higher for metals than for wood.
So metal chair feels colder than wooden chair in winter and feels hotter than the wooden chair in summer.
