Chemical engineer here . Thermal conductivity . Water and liquids in general have an higher K thermal conductivity than gases . Thermal conductivity is expressed in Watts per Meter and Kelvin . Or by Energy per Distance that it was to travel lets forget about the temperature kelvin here . So an Higher K means that more energy goes to your hand or goes away from your hand compared to a substance with a lower K Energy transfer takes longer to occur . If I recall correctly , K of Air is around 0 . 023 and Water is about 0 . 5 . You feel the effects of water around 20 times faster than Air . <| sep |> Oh god , another loser who ' s existence was empowered by someone else winning . I feel bad for people like you <| sep |> I ' m a pretty good driver , I think . But my vehicle is crap , and everyone seems to fear my driving . I need fuel injection cleaning , adjust the steering , dual to single exhaust , betterquieter muffler , quieter tips , new suspension , in that order of cheapness . First two are the priority for me , when I ' m no longer broke .