Talk:Wind chill
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Why does the V overlap the 0 in the formula? Rmhermen 14:25, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)
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[edit] For what range of values is the formula valid?
The wind chill formula seems on the face of it to only be valid for certain range of values. E.g., it seems strange that when V=0 it doesn't reduce to the ambient air temperature.
Also, doesn't wind chill apply in other circumstances such as when riding a motorcycle? For this situation rather higher temperatures and velocities might be interesting. Does this same formula apply. And if the effect is mostly related to evaporation, what effect does clothing have on the perceived temperature? -- Jake 21:45, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
- E.g., if you google ("wind chill" motorcycle) there are other formulas that seem to be used. How do they relate? Jake
[edit] Skin, "feel like"
In the first sentence of the article, it is claimed that skin is the only relevant thing that can feel wind chill, but later it is mentioned that it can apply even to inanimate objects, albeit with different formulae. Is the latter correct?
In a similar vein, the warning at the end seems to be sort of POV—the clause "but 32 °C can correctly be said to feel like 32 °C only at 0% humidity" is neither patently obvious nor supported by a cite. Indeed, it seems quite incorrect. Thoughts? /blahedo (t) 00:34, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
- i would disagree that it's not obvious. the idea they're trying to get across is that, if you are at 32 °C with x humidity, then what you are actually feeling is temperature+humidity. to feel only the temp, you would need to remove the other variable. in practice, charts/graphs would perhaps be more effective if they were based on some avg humidity, but that seems to me like it would muddy the concepts. for the same reason, i don't like the benchmark wind-speed idea in the article. if you look at a painting through sunglasses, you don't know what the colors of the painting actually look like, you only know what they look like filtered through the dark lenses. --dan 07:38, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Frostbite
The tables indicate that the adjusted temperature can be below 0 C even though the actual is over 0 C. Does this mean that an ice cube will not melt in +5 C if there is sufficient wind?
Windchill is a percieved measurement by the body on how cold it is. It is not something that is absolute and can be measured by instruments. Wind Chill is calcualted by pretending humans are a certin shapes etc and seeing how quickly the heat disapates from them in a series of lab experiments, at least from what i can understand.
So you can't use the charts for an Ice Cube as they were designed for humans, and the actual temperature does not change depending on the wind. So i guess no, the ice cube would still melt regardless of the wind. Philbentley 23:30, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
- also, as i understand it, the wind chill makes you feel colder by evaporating water off your skin. it heats up the water on your surface and when that water goes away you feel colder. presumably the wind would have a similar effect on an ice cube - i'm not sure how this would effect melting, per se, but in terms of the cube shrinking, it would probably be faster in higher wind. --dan 07:31, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
Frostbite is dependent on several factors including temperature. If the bollod circulation in an area is high the skin is warmed countering the effect of the cold and reducing the incidence of frostbite. Does the wind chill formula assume an inactive subject?Haans42 15:46, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Inanimate Objects
It would be useful to mention in the article that wind chill cannot reduce the temperature of an object below the ambient air temperature.(except if there is supercooling due to some evaproative effect) So if the wind chill is -60 and the coolant in your automobile engine coolant/antifreeze is only rated to -40 your engine block will not freeze as the common misconception. Haans42 15:46, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Random Question
Can there be wind chill at absolute zero? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 160.39.169.6 (talk) 17:16, 26 January 2007 (UTC).
- That's a clever question; however, as absolute zero is defined as the point where molecular motion ceases (temperature being directly proportional to how much the molecules are moving), there can be no wind-- as wind would require molecular movement, and therefore heat, and therefore a temperature above Zero. See the Absolute Zero article for more info. --BLP 16:16, 4 February 2007 (UTC)
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- Even cleverer answer. Thank you for the quick response. 160.39.169.89 06:52, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
how can water freeze above 32degs?
[edit] Watts per Square Meter wind chill factor
I've added a sentence to the main article mentioning the use of Wind Chill Factor measured in Watts per square Meter that I remember being used in the 1980s. (I lived in Saskatoon Canada, so in January & February we would hear reports on the radio of "the wind chill is 2100 today, so bundle up!" If anyone can expand on it in the article, feel free. / Dzubint 14:06, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
