Does cold flow from the ice to your hand?

Question

If you hold one end of a metal nail against a piece of ice, the end of your hands soon becomes cold. Expain

Answer 1

There is actually no such thing as "cold". What we mean by cold is really the "absence of heat". The heat is what is flowing out of your hand and into the ice, causing the ice to melt. Cold does not flow because cold does not exist.
When I was in college we decided that it would be fun to invent the "electric dark bulb". It would shine darkness out in all directions, leaving well lit shadows behind objects that got in the way of the dark rays. But try as we might, we could never get a bulb that would shine dark rays. Cold is like that. I wish Arnold Schwartzenegger had known this when he decided to attack Gotham City with his freeze ray. It was doomed from the start, whether Batman showed up or not.

Answer 2

It may seem to be arbitrary, but the direction of heat flow is governed by the actual physical process. As ab object's energy is increased, molecular and atomic motion increases. As energy is further increased, even atoms can be disassembled. This would not be possible if we considered "coldness" to be the active agent.

Likewise, pure thermal radiation comes from emission of energy from a hotter object to cooler objects and measured as such.

Therefore heat does flow from a hotter object to a colder object.

Since the metal nail is an excellent conductor of heat, its own heat content readily transfers to the ice, warming it up. However, your nerves that sense heat are fairly sensitive, so even a small change in the skin will be sensed by your nerves .and registed by your brain.

Answer 3

Heat is transfered through substances, not cold.
The heat from your hand is conducted throught the metal nail (a good heat conductor) to the ice, where it heats up the ice.

Answer 4

Its not that cold is conducted, on the contrary, heat is a state of energy, a relatively warmer hand dissipates its energy to the metal conductor, and the ice gains that energy, ice becomes less colder, leaving the hand colder.

Answer 5

The heat leaves your hand. "Cold" cannot flow, coldness is the absence of heat. The cold you feel in your finger is the reduction in heat, the heat your finger is losing to the ice. That's a layman's explanation- hope it helps!

Answer 6

Yes, heat always flows from a medium with a higher temperature to that with a lower temperature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer

Answer 7

hot to cold, always

Answer 8

always