At 08:45 PM 3/18/2009, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
>cold winter day that plastic material sucks the heat out of my fingers
>like it's made of aluminum or some other material with high thermal
>conductivity. Or is it something to do with specific heat? I was doodling

I think it's more to do with the circulation in your fingers, or lack
thereof.  Like steering wheels in general it's made of plastic with a
steel core, specific heat of each probably around 0.1.  Your fingers,
having considerable water, likely have a specific heat of 0.5 or
more.  But they've a lot less mass than the wheel, and they don't
have to cool down that much to feel cold.  As to the conductivity --
leave a couple pounds of aluminum or steel out there all night and
try holding it for ten minutes...I think you'll prefer the steering wheel.

If you're new to cold weather it may help to know two things: first,
type for type, mittens are *much* warmer than gloves, since your
fingers can warm each other instead of the outside.  Second, as long
as they hurt it's ok.  If they quit hurting and turn waxy white*
that's called frostbite, and you should learn how to deal with it
correctly before some well-meaning idjit comes along and rubs snow on it.

*Not the same as Raynaud's syndrome, where exposure to cold causes
the circulation to clamp down when they're still fairly warm -- no
intermediate hurts like heck stage.  If you have that, sometimes
shaking them out like fever thermometers helps get it going
again.  And laying off the coffee.

  --
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'89 Po' White Star "Scamp"