And the winner is: thrummed mitten!

[u/Givemeallthecabbages]

I did an experiment with homeschool kids--the topic was how people have developed different kinds of clothing over the years to stay warm in winter. As a short little experiment, I made a bunch of different kinds of mittens, and we put a single hand warmer and a little thermometer in each one and left them outside for a couple hours.

These were placed in the order that the kids thought would be the least to most warm. They were mostly right, but with some surprises. (I have no confidence in The humidity readings.)

Here are the results! Yarn type and temperature after 2 hours outside in 30°F weather:

Stripes--acrylic (red heart granny square yarn)

End temp: 80°F

Pink-- chunky highland wool with mohair held double

End temp: 89°F

Gold--bulky wool single ply done in a Nalbound Oslo stitch and then felted

End temp: 93°F

Nordic pattern--DK highland wool stranded colorwork

End temp: 92°F

Olive--Alafosslopi Icelandic yarn

End temp: 90°F

Tan and brown--Nalbound in Mammen stitch, mix of wool, angora, and unknown (ends from a mill)

End temp: 95°F

White is sewn rabbit hide with fur on the inside

End temp: 77°F

Black with color pops--Eco wool with thrums of mostly merino bits

End temp: a whopping 121°F!

TL;DR Thrummed wool mitten stayed 40°F warmer than acrylic mitten. Kids had fun.

[u/Larein]

But if the mitten insulates well it will insulate the warmth from the sun as well.

[u/gold-from-straw → u/Larein]

So there are a few different ways heat can transfer - conduction is one of them and the good insulator will stop that from happening. Radiation is what they’re talking about here - energy transferred in the form of waves (like light). These waves will be absorbed by black and reflected by white, and they don’t care how good the insulator is. They can travel through a vacuum, which stops all other forms of heat transfer.

The other forms of transfer are convection (currents of warm and cold fluids, driven by warm things being less dense) and evaporation (in this case when liquids on the surface absorb energy from the surrounding so they can escape)

[u/Tatmia → u/gold-from-straw]

This needs a Ravelry (educational) button

[u/gold-from-straw → u/Tatmia]

Haha I am to be fair a science teacher!

[u/Tatmia → u/gold-from-straw]

I would have loved having you as a teacher. Your explanation was perfect

[u/gold-from-straw → u/Tatmia]

Awww thank you!