Why is it that when you touch really cold metal, your skin gets
stuck? (Lansing State Journal, November 18, 1992) When you touch
cold metal, you skin is at a higher temperature than the metal.
The heat from your hand flows from your finger to the metal.
Metal conducts the heat so well that if you were to touch a very
cold piece of metal, the heat from your skin would be carried
away very quickly, which lowers the temperature of you skin. If
the metal were cold enough, the temperature near your skin could
be lowered below the freezing point of water. The moisture from
your skin would then freeze, "sticking" your skin to the metal.
By pouring warm water over the skin, the frozen water is melted,
freeing your finger.