Skip to main content

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Required fields*

5
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ The humidity affects the sensation of temperature because it affects the evaporation of sweat and the feels like value includes this. It may also include the effect of wind chill, though I think wind chill would usually be recorded separately. Whether this is a physics question is debatable. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 29, 2025 at 9:18
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ As for the practical side of "perceiving temperature" by your body,- try to blow air to your hand in sauna and notice that at that skin place it feels "hotter". Similar effect in winter exists, strong winds amplifies heat convection from your skin, so it feels "colder". $\endgroup$ Commented 2 days ago
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Our biological bodies evolved not to measure environment temperature, but heat input/output power, since body must optimize inner engine (metabolism) to account for these factors. Our bodies are not in thermal equilibrium with environment, so measuring temperature has no of use in anycase. $\endgroup$ Commented 2 days ago
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ There is physics in this question. Related - Why is a sleeping bag so cold when you first get in?. Not related, but still about the physics of perception - What is Gray, from a physics POV? $\endgroup$ Commented 2 days ago
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ This is absolutely a physics question as the answer demonstrates. If it isn't then neither are questions about the appearance rainbows or why it hurts more when you fall from a higher height. This speaks to the same physics that explains why, when you go into a cold bathroom (where everything in it is the same temperature) that a porcelain sink feels colder to the touch than a towel. $\endgroup$ Commented 2 days ago