[ExI] paradox?

[Will Steinberg]

On Mar 22, 2016 11:34 AM, "William Flynn Wallace" <foozler83 at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Y'all like puzzles, Spike says, so here is one I have been wondering
about:
>
> In the winter we set the thermostat during the day at 71 and that's about
our feel good temperature.  72 feels just a bit high and 70 a bit low.  I
am a bit surprised that we can tell the temp of just a degree or two.
Night setting is 68.
>
> No change is made according to outside temp.  There is a factor that is
probably irrelevant:  persistence of cold.  When we come in from the cold
our feeling of coldness lasts much longer than it takes to warm our skin.
Not understood.  There is no persistence of warmth.
>
> In the summer we set it at 76.  Any lower is too cold (the winter night
setting of 68 feels frigid in the summer), and higher is too hot.
>
> Now why should our preferred temp be so different according to the
seasons?  It would seem that it should be the same regardless of what the
temp is outside.
>
> Note that I am assuming that the humidity in the house is about the same
winter and summer.
>
> Now if we compare:  if we wanted the temp to be the greatest difference
between the house and outside, we'd set it at 76 in the winter and 71 in
the summer.
>
> If we wanted the difference to be the smallest, we'd set it just like we
do now. But maybe the difference is not a controlling factor here.
>
> However, I don't know what is.  Any of you notice the difference in
settings between summer and winter, and if, so, is it like ours or
different?
>
> ???
>
> bill w
>

I'd harbor a guess that in higher temperatures than "normal" (maybe the
thermodynamic equilibrium of skin?  Or actually, let's start at birth.
When you're born and begin to be raised in an environment of a certain
temperature, some process dictates the recruitment of a certain 2D molarity
(molecules/m^2) of thermoreceptors to your skin cells to create
thermodynamic equilibrium in your skin.  That's "normal" for now)--so at
higher temperatures than normal, more receptors get recruited to skin
cells, and your temperature tolerance goes up briefly.  Chronic activation
therein causes longer term upregulation.
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