Sherman Suter writes:

>Don's reservations about Mike's statement #2 are well founded. Air (still
>air) is by far a poorer conductor of heat than is water.

Agreed.

>"When heat is transferred by conduction alone, the difference in
>temperature between the organism and its surroundings is inversely
>proportional to the conductivity of the fluid.

>As a result, organisms in water maintain a temperature about twenty-three
>times closer to that of their environment than do organisms in air." --

True. This is because the *rate of temperature change* between the
organism and its surroundings is *directly* proportional to the
conductivity of the fluid. Thus an equilibrium temperature is reached much
more quickly in water than air. Which of course makes it all the more
interesting how waterbirds manage to survive so well.

,Jack