I plan to go camping with some friends in two weeks and we expect the nights to be pretty cold. We will be sleeping in tents so everyone will take their camp beds with them and put the sleeping pad on it to stay warm in the night. I think it should be warmer, when I put my sleeping pad directly on the ground, but everyone disagrees.
They argue that air is a better thermal insulator than the ground, since the ground is often damp. I think that air movement cancels out this advantage. Now I’m a bit unsure and considering buying a camping bed after all.
Would that be a good investment to sleep a bit warmer? What’s the physics behind it, and who’s right?
Edit: I forgot to mention that my tent is not completely closed. It has no built-in floor, and there’s a hole at the top in the middle of the roof for the center pole.