• Question: Why does wind make it feel colder

    Asked by Einstein123jnr to Áine, Ciarán, Eoin, Lydia, Victoria on 7 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Ciarán O'Brien

      Ciarán O'Brien answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      When you feel cold, that’s because heat from your body is being transferred to the air around you. Energy always moves to wherever there’s less energy until both sides are balanced. If the air didn’t move, then the air right next to you would heat up to match your body temperature, and the heat from your body wouldn’t leave as quickly, and you’d feel warm again.

      But when the wind is blowing, the air your body just transferred heat to gets blown away, and it’s replaced by more cold air, so the transfer of heat keeps happening, and you won’t feel warm until you get inside or until you’re as cold as the air (but you’d die of hypothermia if your body got that cold, so don’t try it).

    • Photo: Áine Broderick

      Áine Broderick answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Ah.. it is called the wind chill factor ( I remember learning about this in school).
      Your skin loses heat through evaporation, conduction, and radiation. This rate of conduction depends on the difference in temperature between your skin and its surroundings. As conduction from your warm skin heats the air around it, an insulating boundary layer of warm air forms around your skin. Moving air disrupts this and allows cooler air to replace the warm air around your skin, making your skin feel cooler as the wind increases.

Comments