I have a question about water. Or maybe it’s a question about the body. Have you ever noticed—when filling a glass up with water—that when you test the temperature with your finger it feels really cold and but then you drink it, it’s not as cold as it was on your finger. What’s the deal with that?
uhh. it has to do with the hyperbolic pressure of el nino on your cervantes nervous system (which is specific to your fingers). that is why our fingers are the most sensitive part of your body, even more than your tongue.
I hope you wash you hands before sticking them in drinking water and then drinking it! I just read a story about a tapeworm (short story in most recent issue of Harper’s, NOT Irvin Welsh’s Filth, which I have also read, and it is filthy and troubling. Let me spoil it for you: the man hangs himself to get revenge on his wife, but it is his child who sees him, and then he craps his pants as he dies. His sentient tapeworm comes out).
Edit – I think that was your best comment to date.
I thought I had a fairly plausible answer to your question but, as I began to type it, I realized that it actually didn’t make any sense.
I actually think this is about you Rhett. When I feel the water with my finger I can figure out how it’s gonna feel in my mouth just fine.
Adam – Yeh, someone told me that it was because my mouth was hotter than my finger. It couldn’t have been worse than that.
Leah – You are just denying the basic truth of life—I am right.
Since you slurred engineers the other day I am going to give you a full technical answer. When you test the temperature is it the water out of the tap flowing over your finger? If so then the thin layer of water right on your skin (the boundary layer) never really warms up and the water feels cool. When you fill the glass, it warms up a bit, and then when you drink it, the warm mass of your tongue and mouth warm it up a little more. And finally the water boundary layer that forms in your mouth insulates your mouth from the cool water making it SEEM a little warmer.
If you dip your finger in the glass of water then drink it – that’s gross – plus you probably need an engineer to recalibrate your tongue and finger so that they sense the same temperature.
I guess that makes some sense.
Actually I have no idea – I just wanted to see what you would say about my rather convoluted explanation!
Aha! Engineers are just out to make the world dumber!