Book 10, Question 49
Why Warm Up Cold Fingers By Moving?
Moving warms up cold fingers because muscle activity and changes in your blood vessels bring warmer blood to your hands! Motion spreads heat around your body. That is why jumping jacks can make your fingers tingle and warm.
More fun facts
- Your skin has thermoreceptors, sensors that switch on with cold, and others that switch on with heat.
- Try putting one hand in warm water and one in cold, then both in room temperature water. Each hand feels something different.
- After cold water, heat flowing into your cold hand fires its warm sensors, so room temperature water feels warm.
- In space, fingers are the part of the body that gets coldest.
- Spacesuit gloves have heaters to keep astronauts' fingers warm while still letting them grip tools.
Sources: Scientific American, NASA
Questions kids ask
Why does room temperature water feel warm to a cold hand?
Heat flows into the cold hand and switches on its warm sensors.