When you put a metal object against your skin, it feels cold. Why does this happen?

Question

What physical property of metals explains this observation?
What uses does this property have?

I'll award best awnser =]

Answer 1

Because metal conducts heat - when you put it next to your skin the heat in your blood warms up the metal and you feel the cooling effect because of the heat loss.

Answer 2

Object Against

Answer 3

It is not a property of the metal per se, but hte fact that the metal is a room temp which is less than body temp, as the second answerer pointed out.

The conductivity also has nothing to do with the feeling of coldness. The feeling will be the same even if it were a plastic object at room temperature. The heat capacity determines how long it takes for the object to reach the same temperature as your body ie how long the feeling of coldness lasts.

Answer 4

It actually has more to do with biology than with physics. Your heat and cold receptors don't actually respond to temperature, but to the flow of heat. When heat flow is at equilibrium, (when heat is lost to the environment at the same rate your metabolism produces it) you feel "normal." When more heat is lost than is produced, you feel cool (or cold). When more heat is produced than is lost, you feel warm (or hot). This effect also applies to objects.

If an object draws more heat from your skin than does the air, it feels colder than the air. If it draws less, it feels warmer than the air. A metal object at room temperature absorbs heat more readily than does air. So it feels cold.

And no, metal and plastic objects at the same temperature will not feel the same. Try it yourself and see.


Incidentally, the reverse of all of this is true if the objects are warmer than body temperature. A piece of hot metal will feel hotter than a piece of hot (not molten) plastic. Which will feel hotter than air at the same temperature.

Answer 5

Because the metal object is the ambient room temperature where as your body temperature his higher.