Why does a metal spoon feel colder than a wooden one?

Imagine opening the kitchen drawer and picking up two spoons, one made of metal and one made of wood. Hold one in each hand and feel them against your fingers. The metal one feels cool and chilly, while the wooden one feels almost warm.

Both spoons came out of the same drawer, yet they feel so different. So why does a metal spoon feel colder than a wooden one? Let's find out together.

Here is a surprise. The two spoons lay side by side in the same air all night, and that air made them both just as cool as the room. The metal spoon is not really colder at all.

Your hand is warmer than the room, because your body makes its own warmth all day long. When you touch something cooler, warmth moves out of your warm fingers and into it. Your fingers share their warmth with both spoons.

Deep down, your skin cannot tell how cold a spoon really is. Instead, it feels how fast warmth leaves your fingers. When warmth slips away quickly, your skin sends a message to your brain that something feels cold.

Metal is a good conductor, which means a thing that passes warmth along, and metal passes it fast. Picture a line of friends passing a ball from hand to hand, fast as can be. A metal spoon passes the warmth from your fingertips along its whole length in that same speedy way.

Because metal is such a good conductor, it keeps pulling warmth away from your fingers. Your skin feels that warmth rushing out, and so the metal spoon feels cold. Now, what do you think the wooden spoon does with the warmth from your fingers?

Wood is a poor conductor, so it passes warmth along very slowly. The warmth from your fingers stays close to your skin instead of rushing away. Your skin feels hardly any warmth leaving, and the wooden spoon feels warm and cosy.

One special word helps us remember: conductor. Your warm fingers lose their warmth fast to a metal spoon because metal is a good conductor, while wood takes that warmth slowly, so the metal spoon feels colder.

Next time you pick up a spoon, you will know just where your warmth is going, little explorer.