What can you say about the temperature of ceramic tiles on the floor of a bathro

Question

What can you say about the temperature of ceramic tiles on the floor of a bathroom, compared to the temperature of a bath mat made of a thick towel like material on those tiles, assuming neither is in direct sunlight? Choose one of the following and explain your answer. i. The mat is at a lower temperature as it does not absorb energy well. ii. The tiles are at a lower temperature as they conduct energy well. iii. The tiles are at lower temperature as they do not store energy well. iv. The tiles are at a lower temperature as they do not conduct energy well. v. They are both at the same temperature as they are in contact with each other.

Explanation / Answer

The bath mat and tiles are at same temperature as they are in thermal equilibrium. Infact everything inside bathroom are at almost same temperature provided that there is no heater working inside. We feel the tiles to be colder (which is not true) because thermal conductivity of tiles is about 100 times to that of cotton like bath mat.When we keep our feet (Which is normally at higher temperature) on tiles, heat flows at a greater rate from our feet to tiles and we feel the tiles colder than the mat.The mat has low thermal conductivity which does not make heat to flow from our body to the mat at a fast rate.So the correct answer is (v).

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