Freezing Sweaty Cap

[adam]

We've been in a bit of a cold snap here (not as cold as some places, but enough to be a little annoying at times). This morning I went out for 11 miles and came back with sweat frozen solid on my cap. I'm used to it being a bit frosty when I finish, but today it was frozen solid and my cap was stuck to my ears.

So, my question is this: If most of your body heat is lost through the head, and wearing a cap is meant to retain that heat, how is it that the cap itself can freeze solid when it becomes saturated with sweat? Wouldn't it make sense that the heat in the cap would keep things from freezing?

There's probably a really, really obvious answer to all of this...but I still feel like asking around.

[Dallen]

That 90 or 95 or whatever % loss of heat through your head is just not true. Actually it might be, but only if you count the large amount of heat you lose by breathing. Otherwise the skin in your head loses heat only a little faster than the rest of your skin (it is a little more vascular).

[Sean Sundwall]

Perhaps your hat is like an igloo. It's frosty on the outside but warm on the inside. Or like a frozen river which has the top layer frozen but it still flows underneath.

[Fredrick Teichert]

That's a great question. Maybe what keeps your head warm is brain activity and you just weren't thinking on the day you had your frozen cap. That's a joke, kind of... I've had the same problem.

 

[Dawson Hinton]

What I want to know is if you lost any skin when you tried to remove the frozen cap?  I'm sure that it could have been quite painful, but maybe a bit funny at the same time!

[adam]

It happened maybe a month ago...so I can't quite remember. I do remember it just felt "stuck" to my ears and kind of reminded me of pulling tape off of skin. It did make me think of Christmas Story though, when they pull the kid's tongue from the frozen pole.

[Dawson Hinton]

It did make me think of Christmas Story though, when they pull the kid's tongue from the frozen pole.

That is exacly what I was thinking about while I was reading about it:)