Polartec wasRe: [at-l] Wet T-shirt contestresults,,,,finally

[rafe@oasissemi.com (Raphael Bustin)]

--
At 08:25 AM 8/28/2002 -0400, sAunTerer  wrote:

>It was me who lost Rafe by saying that you should remove your wet cotton
>tee before putting on your fleece.  That comment was based on experience
>pure and simple.  Your body continues to generate heat (if you're past the
>point of generating heat you're in BIG trouble) and that continues the
>evaporative process which continues the cooling process.  IOW it's like
>turning on your AC and furnace at the same time, counterproductive to say
>the least.


My response to sAunTerer was contradictory and unclear.

My only argument -- and it was rather academic -- was that most
of the evaporation and cooling (from the wet cotton) would cease
once you put additional layers on top of it.  On reflection, the
"physics" would be more complicated than that...

If it were cold out, and your body was still at normal temperature,
you'd have (I suppose) both evaporation and condensation going on
at the same time, underneath the outer layers.  At the surface of
the body, you'd almost surely have a net energy loss.  The
condensation would occur near the outer layers, so any heat gain
from that would be wasted.

Ergo:  I completely agree with sAunTerer that putting *anything*
over wet cotton is foolish and counterproductive.

Bottom line.  Wet cotton is good for getting cool, and if that's what
you want, there should be no additional layers over the cotton.  If
what you want is to get warm, ditch the wet cotton, right away.


rafe b.
aka terrapin
--

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.381 / Virus Database: 214 - Release Date: 8/2/2002