Question

Why does a metal bar appear hotter than a wooden bar at the same temperature? Equivalently it also appears cooler than a wooden bar if they are both colder than room temperature.

Answer 1

Hint:Here we all need to understand what is called conductivity and what is called insulator. Conductors allow heats and electricity to go through within it. And on the other hand insulators are those substances which don't have any free electrons.so they cannot carry or transfer any heat or electricity through their bodies. Due to difference in conductivity, metals have more high conductivity compared to wood.

Complete answer:
The conductivity of metal is higher than the woods. So metals can transfer heat faster than woods. The rate of transferring heat and electricity through metals are higher than the woods. So that is why we touch any hot metal heat easily transfers to our finger quickly from that metal.But on other hand when we touch any hot wood due to less conductivity heat does not transfer from the wood to our fingers quickly like metals.

So metal bars appear hotter than a wooden bar at the same temperature.The specific heat of metals are lower than any wooden bar. So the metal needs a little temperature in comparison with woods to change each one degree temperature. So that is why metal also appears cooler than wooden bars if they are both colder than room temperature.

Note: Metals have low specific heat and high conductivity. And wood has high specific heat and low conductivity in comparison to metal bars. So metals take less time to change their each one degree temperature. So it appears cooler than a wooden bar if they are both colder than room temperature.