Abstract
Summary
Skin temperature measurements made on the hand immersed in water of various temperatures show that the difference between skin and water temperatures h minimal when the hand is immersed in moderately cold water (15 to 20°C). With the higher (25°C) or lower (5 and 10°C) water temperatures studied, this difference is increased. The effect of increasing the temperature of the ambient air is generally to increase the difference between skin and water temperature; however, in very cold water, ambient air temperature seems to have less influence on this difference.
These results are discussed in terms of blood volume flow and the inference is made that blood flow through the hand passes through a minimum as the hand temperature is progressively lowered. This conclusion was verified using the plethysmography technic of blood flow determination.
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