I'm reading wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer about Thompson's "New Experiments upon Heat":
Table:
Moist air 330
Dry air (1 atm) 80.41
I cannot help observing, with what infinite wisdom and goodness Divine Providence appears to have guarded us against the evil effects of excessive heat and cold in the atmosphere; for if it were possible for the air to be equally damp during the severe cold of the winter ... as it sometimes is in summer, its conducing power, and consequently its apparent coldness ... would become quite intolerable; but, happily for us, its power to hold water in solution is diminished, and with it its power to rob us of our animal heat.
From experience I know in moist outside air it feels colder. But I've found that most sources indicate moist air is less conductive to heat, e.g. Air Thermal Conductivity vs Humidity.
As for subjective feeling of cold, I guess it could be due to clothing getting wet. But how Thompson could have got objective conductivity of moist air higher than dry?
There is a note in wiki:
Under the circumstances described, heat may—unbeknownst to Thompson—have been transferred more by radiation than by conduction.
So is it the [full] explanation? That moist air radiate several time more energy than dry one? From what I know it is not, but asking just in case.
