Living in the Northeast, most of us have become accustomed to the biting cold that encapsulates our state in the winter. From snowstorms to relentless blizzards, the cold is a part of our way of life, and it’s here to stay.
Despite the general iciness that is typical of New England winters, there seems to be something special about the level of bitterly cold wind that blows through the University of Connecticut’s campus this time of year; at this point, I’m convinced that UConn is no short of a live wind farm.
As students trudge through snow, or remnants of a chilly fall, going from class to class, many students can be spotted donning all sorts of gear to protect them from the cold and wind chill. Mufflers, hats and windbreakers are all campus staples, but amongst these articles lie a little-known debate — mittens or gloves?
Before proceeding, we need to establish some definitions, as there may be some cloudiness over what makes mittens distinct from gloves.
Both are hand coverings designed for protecting our digits from frostbite and other nasty effects of the biting cold. When it comes to visuals, gloves — unlike mittens — have individual spaces for your fingers. On the other hand, mittens have one hole designed for your thumb and a “chamber” that collectively holds the rest of your fingers.
Our first point of contention regards dexterity. While gloves aren’t designed to protect one from industrial hazards, they are often used in the context of outdoor winter activities. From uses during snow shoveling to snowball making, dexterity is important in enabling fine motor skills, and the choice between a glove or mitten can determine what kind of work is possible. While gloves allow for individual fingers, mittens only allow for the flexibility of independent, opposable thumbs, and a “conglomerate” of the rest of your fingers — resembling the hands of a Lego person.
While mittens may keep you generally warm — a topic that will be discussed in its own right — they don’t allow for the same degree of freedom as gloves. For example, mittens will let you push the snow blower, but could you really design the annual rendition of Frosty the Snowman without gloves? I think not! Most would agree that actions such as zipping up a winter jacket and engaging in winter athletics such as skiing and snowboarding are only possible with gloves. In permitting an extraordinary level of movement between fingers (that don’t happen to be thumbs), gloves prove their superiority over mittens, in the level of deftness they offer users.
Foremost, gloves and mittens are designed to keep the user’s hands warm. A high school understanding of thermodynamics demonstrates the scientific difference between the two articles when it comes to heat conservation.
While the fabric of a glove wraps around each contour of one’s fingers — between and around the webbing of each digit — the pocket-like expanse of a mitten simply surrounds the fingers as a whole. This means that the surface area of a mitten is significantly lower than that of a glove. Consequently, body heat is lost faster through a pair of gloves, than through mittens. In my personal experience, this means sweaty glove insides during snowball fights, which become icy cold when the dampness starts to freeze over.
A counterargument to this point is the fact that because of their increased heat transfer, gloves are also more “breathable,” especially when it comes to winter sports. To be fair, if it’s not biting cold outside, it seems that this is a valid argument.
At the end of the day, most people can get by with either type of protection, especially a student who only needs them to keep warm. However, if you find yourself engaging in a Nor’easter snowball fight, or a dash down ski slopes, picking carefully may just save you the hassle.