Touching Steam and Warmness • EthnoPhysics

Warmness is illustrated by this icon for a steaming pot of food.

Any mild perception of heat that happens in routine human activity is called a safe thermal sensation. Safe thermal sensations are described using words like warm, cool, balmy, chilly, tepid and lukewarm. They are similar to the temperature of a living person. The reference experience for these sensations is touching steam. So to make a binary description of a safe thermal sensation, compare it to steam . Report the result using one of the following algebraic statements.

If the two experiences are not comparable, then say that the sensation is not a safe thermal sensation and express this as $\delta_{\tau}=0 .$ If the sensation is like touching steam, then say that it is warm. Express this as $\delta_{\tau}=+1 .$ If not, then say that it is cool and that $\delta_{\tau}=-1 .$ The number $\delta_{\tau}$ is called the warmness. These relations are mathematically expressed by

$\delta_{\tau} \equiv \begin{cases} +1 &{\text{if a safe thermal sensation is warm }} \\ \; \; 0 &{\text{if a thermal sensation is not safe}} \\ -1 &{\text{if a safe thermal sensation is cool }} \end{cases}$

Reference Constant for Warmness

The numerical constant associated with the thermal sensation of touching steam is called the boiling point of water. It is symbolized by $T_{\mathsf{boil}}$ . For ordinary terrestrial conditions near sea-level, it has a value of $T_{\mathsf{boil}} = 100 \ \left( {\degree} \mathsf{\textsf{C}} \right)$ For more about how this number is used, please see the discussion of laboratory experiments and the temperature of charmed quarks.