Even though both are exactly the same temperature. Your skin doesn't measure temperature at all.
Your guess
A metal spoon and a wooden board have been in the same room for hours. Which is colder?
Not quite.
Both are at room temperature. The spoon only feels colder – because it draws heat from your hand faster.
Your skin measures heat flow
The skin's heat sensors respond less to an object's temperature than to how much heat flows in or out. Metal draws heat from your hand quickly, wood barely does. That's why metal feels cold and wood feels warm.
How strongly a material soaks up heat
Cork0.1
Wood0.4–0.5
Human skin1.0–1.3
Steel14
Copper36
Thermal effusivity describes how quickly a material takes up heat. Copper is about eighty times higher than wood.
Fits with this
Nº 011 · Perception · 1 min
Can you trust your eyes?
Two orange circles. One looks bigger. See how strongly your brain fools you.
Nº 014 · Physics · 1 min
How heavy is a cloud?
It floats above you. How much water does a cumulus cloud of one cubic kilometre hold?
