For example, they say a car battery loses 50% of its power in temperatures less than 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Well, if the temperature is really 32, but the wind chill is 25, is the car battery weakened the same way?
I don’t see how blowing 32[sup]o[/sup] air on a 32[sup]o[/sup] object could lower the temperature, unless you add some sort of evaporative cooling. If the objects temperature was above the outside air temperature blowing air across it would cool it down faster.
From How Stuff Works: What is wind chill and does it have any effect on inanimate objects?
Since wind chill is only measuring the amount of heat lost that radiates around a human being, it’s not going to affect your cat battery. If it’s 0 degrees outside, your car battery thinks it’s 0 regardless of whether or not it is windy.
I pay attention sometimes when watching the Weather Channel!
I assume a cat battery would be a 9 volt, right? Once it gets started, I bet it just purrs.
With the amount of energy my cat is expending now, she hardly needs any power.
Thanks for the link, SmackFu!
Interesting factoid: the original wind chill factor was computed by measuring how fast it took a tin can full of water to freeze when it was hung out in the wind in Antarctica. It has been recently suggested that the wind chill factor should be decreased (i.e. made less severe). In the human body (or any mammal, I guess) the capillaries near the skin will constrict (lips turning blue, anyone?) and blood flow to the extremities is decreased to limit the amount of heat the body loses.
Here’s a link:
IMHO, Whether it’s a person or an inanimate object, if the ambient temperature is 35 degs, that’s the temperature. The wind chill is how it feels. Wind makes it feel colder for the same reason the water froze. Radiation and evaporation. The wind causes faster evaporation from any radiant heat, resulting in a chilling effect. The water could not freeze if the ambient temperature was above 32 degs, but it would freeze faster if it were and there was a strong wind.