It's not as simple as it seems: why does metal feel colder than wood?

It is well known that on a cold day, metal feels significantly colder than wood, even though this isn't the case. It turns out that the difference lies not in temperature, but in how your body perceives heat transfer, reports IFLScience.

When you touch something, you don't directly feel its temperature. Instead, you sense how quickly heat moves between the object and your skin.

As physicist Derek Muller explains in a video for his YouTube channel Veritasium: "This is related to thermal conductivity."

For instance, a hard drive and a book at the same temperature feel different because aluminum, a key component of the hard drive, draws heat away from your hand faster than the book does.

This principle also clarifies why, if two objects are warmer than your body, the one made of metal feels hotter. Metal transfers heat to your skin more efficiently than other materials, such as wood or plastic.

The same principle explains why a metal cake pan feels hotter than the cake itself, even though both have just come out of the oven.

Thermal conductivity is the ability of a material to conduct heat. In metals, tightly packed atoms and the presence of free electrons make them excellent conductors of heat. These free electrons move rapidly and effectively transfer energy by colliding with other particles, spreading heat throughout the material.

Non-metals, such as wood or plastic, lack these free electrons. For example, wood is made up of compounds like cellulose and lignin, with air pockets that scatter and slow down heat transfer. This structural difference is why wood feels warmer and does not conduct heat as well as metal.

A simple experiment by Muller highlights this phenomenon: he placed ice cubes on a plastic and an aluminum block at room temperature. It turned out that the ice on the aluminum block melted faster, even though it felt colder to the touch. This happens because aluminum transfers heat to the ice more efficiently than plastic.

Understanding thermal conductivity not only solves the mystery of why metal feels colder, but also explains material choices in everyday life — from cookware to building materials. Grasping how materials interact with heat can influence everything from product design to energy efficiency.

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