Beat the Heat: Feel the Breeze for Cool Comfort

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Fletcher
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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the perception of temperature and cooling effects in different conditions, particularly comparing still air in hot weather to moving air while driving. Participants explore the mechanisms behind evaporative cooling and how micro-climates affect temperature sensation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions why moving air feels cooler than still air in hot weather, suggesting that the difference is primarily due to air movement across the skin.
  • Another participant explains that in still conditions, a micro-climate forms around the skin due to perspiration, which reduces the effectiveness of evaporative cooling. Moving air disrupts this micro-climate, enhancing cooling through evaporation.
  • A participant references a past experience with organic solvents to illustrate cooling effects, implying a comparison to the current discussion.
  • Another participant acknowledges the cooling effect of blowing on acetone as a quicker demonstration of evaporative cooling compared to air, while noting it is a different effect.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the comparison of cooling effects between air and organic solvents, indicating some disagreement on the nuances of the cooling mechanisms involved.

Contextual Notes

Participants do not fully resolve the distinctions between the effects of air movement and organic solvents on cooling, leaving some assumptions and definitions open to interpretation.

Fletcher
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Why is it when I'm outside in the 90 degree weather the air feels incredibly hot, but when I get in my car and roll the window down and drive along the air blowing against me feels cold? The only difference is the air is moving across my skin, right?
 
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When you are sitting still in 90 deg weather, you have a micro-climate next to your skin that is becoming saturated with perspiration and the evaporative cooling is hard to feel. When you drive down the highway, the fast-moving air strips away that micro-climate and more evaporative cooling occurs, so you feel cooler.
 
This used to be much more obvious when you were allowed to pour organic solvents on your hands in high school!
 
mgb_phys said:
This used to be much more obvious when you were allowed to pour organic solvents on your hands in high school!

that's a completely different effect
 
It's still cooling by evaporation, but blowing on acetone is a much quicker example of the cooling effects than air.
 

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