When a wet newborn is exposed to moving air and surfaces with lower temperature, which heat loss mechanisms are high unless the infant is dried and covered?

• A. Evaporation and Radiation
• B. Conduction and Convection
• C. Radiation and Conduction
• D. Evaporation and Conduction

Answer: (A)

Wet skin leads to rapid heat loss because water on the surface evaporates, taking heat with it. This evaporative cooling is intensified by moving air that carries away the water vapor. The body also loses heat by radiation to cooler objects and surfaces in the environment, even without touching them. Drying the infant removes the moisture that drives evaporation, and covering the baby with blankets reduces exposure to cooler surroundings, thereby cutting down both evaporative and radiative losses. Conduction and convection can contribute as well, but the scenario highlights evaporation and radiation as the primary losses that are addressed by drying and covering.