What is the difference between Dry heat and Humid heat?

Question

What is the difference between Dry heat and Humid heat?

Answer 1

The difference is that dry heat there is no moisture and humid heat is when there is moisture.

If you live near an ocean like me here in New York, you would probably get a lot of humidity.

Humidity makes the air sticky and uncomfortable.

When meteoroligists say for example 50% humidity, that means that have the air molecules are going to be filled with water.

Hope this helped.

Answer 2

humid heat has more water/moisture in it

Answer 3

Humid means there is water in the air, and in dry there is not. The easiest way to explain, go into a sauna and then step out. wet-dry.

Answer 4

The difference is that the relative humidity is different for the same temperature and our body has more problem to cool down by perspiration when the humidity is high.

Say, you feel the same temperature at 40% relative humidity and at 90%. In the former case, natural body perspiration is enough to cool us because it evaporates fast since it is dry air.

But if it is 90%, it won't work as well and you will feel more the heat.

Think about it this way: If you are on the beach on a sunny day and you are wet from swimming. You will feel colder because the water will evaporate thus taking energy as heat.

But if you are in the fog, it won't make a difference if you are wet or not because at 100% relative humidity, no further evaporation is possible.

Answer 5

The main difference is how it makes you feel.  Your body regulates its heat by perspiring.  As the perspiration evaporates it releases heat from your body.  In dry heat such as in Arizona, even if the ambient air is over 100 degrees, your perspiration evaporates so quickly that the heat does not seem so bad.  (as long as you stay out of direct sun).  That is because your body is able to efficiently shed the heat through evaporating perspiration.  It is also what can cause you to die of thirst pretty quickly if you do not keep replacing the lost water.

In humid heat like in swampy areas, the ambient air is already saturated with moisture.  As you perspire, the perspiration does not evaporate.  Your body cannot regulate your temperature very efficiently and you feel hot even if the temperature is relatively mild.  

That is the main difference in how it feels.

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Answer 6

A dry air temperature of 34 degree celcius will produce an apparent temperature of 57 degree celcius if there is humid air with 85 percent relative humidity.This means that your body will experience a hotness of 57 degree celcius with a humid air containing humid heat instead of the actual 34 degree celcius of the dry air containing dry heat.