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Home & Garden Articles
Types of Insulation
Wed 09 Sep 2009 - 15:12
Types of Insulation
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Connor_R_Sullivan]Connor R Sullivan
Cold is the enemy. We need heat to keep our bodies going. Our bodies make a lot of heat, but if there is too much cold, our body's heat-making capability can't overcome the attack of the cold; the body's water will freeze, and the body will die. An active source of heat such as a fire, can keep cold at bay. But if a source of heat is unavailable, the second line of defense is passive heat, or insulation. Insulation holds in the heat produced by the body and allows the body's heat-making mechanism keep the body at the proper temperature. The body loses heat through the conductance of the heat. Heat always travels toward the cold in an effort to equalize the temperature of the two objects. Insulation blocks the heat from being conducted. The very best insulation is a vacuum. The next best insulator is dead air. When air is not moving, the heat can't travel past it. While foam insulation is the most efficient, there are many, many other types of insulation.
The most common example of vacuum acting as an insulator is the vacuum bottle. The vacuum bottle stores your beverage, keeping hot things hot and cold things cold. (Remember the old joke? "How do it know?") You need it for hot things because the outside air is cooler than the coffee, and the heat of the coffee would leak into the cooler surrounding air. You need it for cold things because the outside air is warmer than the lemonade, and the heat of the air would pass into the lemonade and melt the ice cubes. With a vacuum inside the walls of the vacuum bottle, the heat is kept in for the coffee and out for the lemonade.
Long ago people noticed that ducks and geese were able to live comfortable and even swim in cold water without seeming to suffer. As they plucked the waterfowl before cooking it, they discovered the secret: fluffy duck and goose down. When they packed this down between layers of their clothing, they were able to keep their bodies just as warm as the ducks' and geese bodies. At some point they figured out how it works. The down doesn't pack tightly and remains fluffy, with air pockets throughout. These air pockets contain dead air, which, as we've seen, keeps the body warmth in and the cold winter out.
Moving from smaller to larger, the next object to be kept warm is the house. Vacuum and down are impractical in this application, but there are a number of other substances that are used to insulate houses. They work in the same manner as the down, with millions of pockets of dead air. One common type of insulation is made of fiberglass fibers. It is normally laid out on the floor of the attic. Since heat rises, it goes toward the ceiling in the rooms below and is stopped by the air pockets in the fiberglass. Foam makes a good insulation also. Its advantage is that it starts as a liquid that can be squirted into spaces between walls and in the attic.
Connor R. Sullivan has been researching different types of [http://www.superiorfoam.com/]insulation to see which kind is best for his very old Victorian home. He has decided to use [http://www.superiorfoam.com/]foam insulation his home.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Connor_R_Sullivan http://EzineArticles.com/?Types-of-Insulation&id=2898462
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