Why does a carpeted floor feel warmer to bare feet than tile or wood even though all surfaces are the same temperature?

Answer 1

Tile is a ceramic which is a better conductor of heat than carpet which is an insulator. In a very hot summer the tile will feel warmer than the carpet.

Answer 2

The reason why the tile floor seems so much colder than the air is due to convection and conduction. When you step onto a cold tiled floor, the tiles conduct the heat away from your body faster than the air does.

Answer 3

Because a piece of stone or tile feels colder than a piece of wood because the specific heat of a piece of tile or stone is more than the specific heat of woo,even though both are at the same temperature

Answer 4

Tiles feel colder because they are better conductors of heat. Unless it's a blazing hot day, the floor probably is colder than your body temperature, and when you walk on it, it sucks the heat out of the soles of your feet. The tiles suck the heat out faster than the wood, and so feel colder.

If the tile floor and the wood floor both were heated up to, say 140 F, then the tile would feel warmer than the wood for the same reason (i.e., it is better at conducting the heat into the soles of your feet.)

Answer 5

At first, it seems like it's just cold. But if you think about it, the tile has been in the room for quite a while so no matter how resistant it is to warming up/ cooling down, it will eventually become the same temperature as the room. If the tiles you step on are the same temperature of the room then why are they cold? This is because the tiles conduct heat (thermal conductivity) more than the air around you so it feels colder. If the room is 75o then that is about 20o cooler than your body temperature. The tiles conduct heat much better than the air so it feels colder but it really is room temperature.

How materials conduct heat, relitive to air

Air 1

Wood 6

Porcelain tile 40

Silver 17,000

(This is why you don't want a silver tiled floor, or a toilet seat.)

Answer 6

Largely because the skin of the feet is in contact with the floor over practically all of their plantar (their sole) surfaces whereas, on carpet, far less foot sole surface is actually in contact with actual solid material--the balance not in contact with solid material instead being in contact with air (that is, with carpet-foot-interface-retained air pockets) which act as insulators as opposed to heat sinks (where sinking is the heat transfer action by which solid flooring material absorbs heat from the feet, and renders them actually as well as tactilely cooler. In addition to the effect of greater heat transfer due to greater contact area and less insulation against heat transfer, the sense of greater hard floor coolness is augmented also by the fact that far more heat sensing nerve endings are exposed to skin surface temperature changes during skin floor contact than is possible during skin-carpet contact. In fact it would be largely the case, that most nerve endings would remain in closer proximity to air temperatures when standing on carpet.

In summary, the cooling effect of solid flooring is not only a perception, the perceived cooling is also the result of actual, more efficient, heat transfer from feet to floor as a result of far greater degree of contact that is possible between feet soles and a bare floor as opposed to between feet and a carpeted floor.

While it is intuitive to perceive the solid floor's cooling advantage as being a result of greater heat "conductivity," it is more accurate to say that the solid floor can conduct "feet" heat faster and in greater quantity owing, respectively, to far greater sole-floor surface contact as well as to the far greater mass, and concomitant heat absorption capacity, of the solid floor material.

The carpet's far smaller mass is not able to absorb nearly so much heat from the feet as is the much greater mass of solid flooring.

Answer 7

Carpet has an insulating factor with the fibers trapping and holding heat the way clothes hold your body heat. Tile conducts heat away from its surface so the heat of your foot is conducted away from the tile floor and is held in the fibers of carpet.

Answer 8

It's possible that it really is colder than the air. Is the dwelling built on a slab? Is there a foundation? Is the foundation heated?

Answer 9

The thermal mass of the tiles are much greater, this causes a cold feeling due to the tiles absorbing the heat from your foot. The more thermally conductive it is the colder it will feel

Answer 10

Because tile heats more slowly then carpet, aka has a higher specific heat.