They have poor thermal conductivity compared to something like metal, but still much better than fabrics or wood. They also have a high thermal mass.
Tiles are a bit cooler not because they are lower in the room, but because they easily lose heat to the air. They aren’t that much cooler though, and a piece of wood the same temp would feel much warmer.
You can hold a ceramic tile in your hand and apply a blowtorch to the other side. They’re better insulators than conductors. That’s why you see ceramics used for insulating hot food bowls from wooden tables, or a more extreme example, ceramic tiles on re-entry vehicles. Ceramic is not a good conductor of heat.
Wood is about 0.1 W/mK, ceramics about 1 W/mK, and copper is about 400 W/mK.
The ceramic tiles in your house aren’t really “colder” than you
Yes, quite literally they are colder. You can measure this with a thermometer. A more apt comparison would be ceramic floor vs wood flooring, or ceramic vs air temp, as all this flooring is at identical temperatures, yet feels different to the touch.
Tiles do not feel cooler because they “easily lose heat to the air”. Quite the opposite; they take longer to heat or cool than fabric or wood due to their thermal mass. This is also why they feel cooler to the touch. Your body can warm the low mass of fabric or wood faster than it can ceramic, thus those materials feel less cold when you step on them.
If you’re going to be pedantic, at least do it right.
I cannot discern the difference between my arguments and yours. You just used more words? We’re saying the same thing, except I was making a joke about pedantry.
You’re correctly identifying thermal mass as why they feel cooler to the touch, but this is mixed up in some incorrect and contradictory statements. You seem to keep changing your reasoning behind why tiles feel cooler to the touch.
The ceramic tiles in your house aren’t really “colder” than you
This is incorrect, and why I replied to begin with.
Flooring is colder than your skin, regardless of the material, unless your floor temp is above 92℉ (33.5℃). You can measure this with a thermometer. If something is the same temperature as your skin you won’t feel anything - there’s no heat transfer. You could have a copper floor if it was the same temperature as your skin, you wouldn’t feel a thing.
[Ceramic tiles] also have a high thermal mass … they easily lose heat to the air.
These two statements are directly contradicting one another. High thermal mass means it takes a longer time to lose heat to the air. Given identical conditions, ceramic will take longer to change temperature than fabric. For example, if you opened a window and it was 40℉ outside, the carpet would drop in temperature faster than the ceramic tile. It wouldn’t feel this way to your skin, but it could be measured with a thermometer.
That thermal mass is why tiles feel cooler than carpet. Your body has no issue warming the fibers in carpet next to your skin to the same temperature as your skin, it’s harder to warm up the tile because of the thermal mass.
Who do you keep bringing up the quote from the first reply.
They are literally colder than you. But i used the word really colder. The feel a lot colder than they should because of other phenomenon which we have covered at length and nothing of note was added. We are making the same point, chill out
They have poor thermal conductivity compared to something like metal, but still much better than fabrics or wood. They also have a high thermal mass.
Tiles are a bit cooler not because they are lower in the room, but because they easily lose heat to the air. They aren’t that much cooler though, and a piece of wood the same temp would feel much warmer.
You can hold a ceramic tile in your hand and apply a blowtorch to the other side. They’re better insulators than conductors. That’s why you see ceramics used for insulating hot food bowls from wooden tables, or a more extreme example, ceramic tiles on re-entry vehicles. Ceramic is not a good conductor of heat.
Wood is about 0.1 W/mK, ceramics about 1 W/mK, and copper is about 400 W/mK.
Yes, quite literally they are colder. You can measure this with a thermometer. A more apt comparison would be ceramic floor vs wood flooring, or ceramic vs air temp, as all this flooring is at identical temperatures, yet feels different to the touch.
Tiles do not feel cooler because they “easily lose heat to the air”. Quite the opposite; they take longer to heat or cool than fabric or wood due to their thermal mass. This is also why they feel cooler to the touch. Your body can warm the low mass of fabric or wood faster than it can ceramic, thus those materials feel less cold when you step on them.
If you’re going to be pedantic, at least do it right.
I cannot discern the difference between my arguments and yours. You just used more words? We’re saying the same thing, except I was making a joke about pedantry.
You’re correctly identifying thermal mass as why they feel cooler to the touch, but this is mixed up in some incorrect and contradictory statements. You seem to keep changing your reasoning behind why tiles feel cooler to the touch.
This is incorrect, and why I replied to begin with.
Flooring is colder than your skin, regardless of the material, unless your floor temp is above 92℉ (33.5℃). You can measure this with a thermometer. If something is the same temperature as your skin you won’t feel anything - there’s no heat transfer. You could have a copper floor if it was the same temperature as your skin, you wouldn’t feel a thing.
These two statements are directly contradicting one another. High thermal mass means it takes a longer time to lose heat to the air. Given identical conditions, ceramic will take longer to change temperature than fabric. For example, if you opened a window and it was 40℉ outside, the carpet would drop in temperature faster than the ceramic tile. It wouldn’t feel this way to your skin, but it could be measured with a thermometer.
That thermal mass is why tiles feel cooler than carpet. Your body has no issue warming the fibers in carpet next to your skin to the same temperature as your skin, it’s harder to warm up the tile because of the thermal mass.
Who do you keep bringing up the quote from the first reply.
They are literally colder than you. But i used the word really colder. The feel a lot colder than they should because of other phenomenon which we have covered at length and nothing of note was added. We are making the same point, chill out