Touch two objects. They are the same temperature, but the wood Feel Warm, right? why is that? This has nothing to do with temperature, but with thermal energy. When your hands touch objects, there is a heat conduction interaction. Energy transfers from your warmer hands to a cooler object until both temperatures are the same. However, with metal blocks, it can take more energy to reach your hand temperature. Feel cooler because it causes your hands to lose more energy.
You will notice the same thing while swimming. The air temperature at 75°F feels good and comfortable, but it’s really cold to wading into water at the same temperature. That’s because water has a much higher mass than air, which causes you to lose more heat and feel cold.
All blankets are cool
So, blankets, how do they work? The blanket is basically an insulator. This means it prevents energy transfer between objects at different temperatures. Wrap yourself in a blanket on a cold day will prevent you from losing body heat in the air around you, so you will feel warm. Similarly, if you put a blanket around cold soda on a warm day, it will slow down the transfer of heat from air to soda, keeping the soda water Cold Longer.
But what if you feel hot and put on a blanket? In this case, two things can happen at once. It can still act as a thermal insulator and slow down the energy transfer between you and the air. Unless the ambient air is above 98.5°F, this will make you hotter, not cooler.
However, blankets can also have heat interactions with your body. Suppose you are in contact with someone who is 98°F and 80°F blankets. This will increase the temperature of the blanket while reducing the body’s heat energy. Yes, it will act as a cooling blanket – for at least a few minutes until the temperature is equalized.
So, what makes one blanket more effective than another? First of all, it should have a high quality and therefore requires a lot of energy to warm up. Second, the blanket needs good contact with the skin to increase heat interaction. So one of the fluffy blankets won’t be that cool. Apart from that, it’s just a regular blanket.
But I’m the fool to try these things, so I bought a cheap “cooling blanket” online. (I know, unless you get expensive people, someone will say that this won’t work.) For those who say their cooling blankets are exposed in the sun, they have a temperature of 75°F, and I don’t believe you. Check it out. I have three blankets on my sofa. One of them is a cooling blanket, the others are normal. The back is the same picture taken with an infrared camera, so different colors represent different temperatures.
