Question

This cow is standing in the sea. Even though the air temperature and the ocean temperature today are coincidently the same value of 300K, this cow experiences the water as feeling colder than the air. This is because:

a) the specific heat of water is less than that of air.

b) the latent heat of vaporization of the cow is higher than air but lower than water

c) the specific heat of water is greater then that of air.

d) the thermal conductivity of water is less than that of air.

e) the thermal conductivity of water is greater then that of air.

Answer 1

Option .e) is the correct answer for the above question i.e cow experiences the water as feeling colder than the air, this is because the thermal conductivity of water is greater then that of air  cow don’t really sense the temperature, it  sense the rate of heat transfer. Generally, materials that are conductors of heat feel colder than materials that are good insulators. A good example of this is the difference of touching a piece of wood and a piece of metal on a cold winter  day. The metal feels a lot cooler than the wood, right? Well, it’s the same thing with water and air. The thermal conductivity of water is greater then the thermal conductivity of air good heat conductor so water is a good conductor of heat  and air is a good insulator. Therefore, a volume of water will feel colder to us than a volume of air with the same temperature.