Humidity is defined as 'amount of water contained in the air.' Then why is 'humid' air said to be hot?

Answer 1

What you're thinking of is slightly different. If it's hot, you sweat to cool down. This works when the sweat evaporates from your skin, drawing heat from you do do so. Now, if it's humid, your sweat doesn't evaporate so well (the air can only hold so much water), so your body's cooling mechanism doesn't work as well.

There's also a difference when it's cold, but I don't recall the physical reason.

Answer 2

First of all,the humid air contains more heat than a dry air for the same temperature. A mixture of water vapour with air (ie a humid condition) increases the specific heat of air.That means ,to raise the temperature by one degree,more heat is required for a humid air than for a dry air.For example if you want to raise the temperature from 30 degree celcius to 31 degree celcius, you have to supply more heat to a moist air(humid air) than that required for a dry air.So at a particular temperature,humid air will be more hotter than a dry air.
Secondly,due to humid conditions,perspiration will not be removed from your body and thereby your body will not be cooled(evaporation usually causes cooling) and you will feel warm and sultry.

Answer 3

The amout of water in the air does not affect the temperature because they are two totally different things. the sun warms the earth, whether its humid or not. humidity can be cause by rain, evaporation, or fog.

Answer 4

It is very difficult for the body to evaporate water when the air is humid. So, you will feel warm.

Answer 5

When the air is humid, it feels warmer since it is more difficult for moisture to evaporate from your skin and your body can't get rid of excess heat easily. It is not actually warmer, people just perceive it that way.

Answer 6

Because of water content in the air(Humidity), evaporation of pespiration(sweat) does not occur so we will loose water through sweat.when evaporation occurs our body will cool littlebit and we feel cool otherwise we feel hot even we sweat highly.