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 If the sensation is like touching steam, then say that it is warm. Express this as
If not, then say that it is cool and that
The number
is called the warmness. These relations are mathematically expressed by
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 . For ordinary terrestrial conditions near sea-level, it has a value of
For more about how this number is used, please see the discussion of laboratory experiments and the temperature of charmed quarks.