Thermal Insulators
Most recent answer: 10/22/2007
Q:
How does a thermal insulator work?
- sarah
england
- sarah
england
A:
Sarah -
A thermal insulator is something that prevents heat from moving from one place to another. There are 3 main ways that heat can travel: convection, conduction, and radiation. Typically the phrase 'thermal insulator' refers to a material that blocks conduction.
Conduction is what happens when something hot physically touches something cold. Heat moves from the hot surface into the cold one, warming it up. To keep this from happening, you use a material that heat can't move through very easily (a thermal insulator).
But what sort of material is that? Try some experiments. Wrap up a cup of really hot water in a material that you think might be an insulator (i.e. a blanket, perhaps). Set your hand on the outside of the insulator and see how hot it feels. Try it with different materials. The hotter it feels on the outside, the more heat is escaping from the inside, and the poorer the insulator is. Try the same thing with an ice cube. Which one feels the coldest from the outside?
-Tamara
You may also be wondering how a thermal insulator actually works.
The key point in getting rid of thermal conduction is to have very few ways in which thermal energy can travel easily. One of the best ways for thermal energy to travel is as energy in the electrons which conduct electricity in metals, so you want to avoid metals. Another is as tiny sound waves, so you don't want a good crystal (like sapphire) in which sound waves travel a long way before bouncing in a new direction. Gases (like air) have low thermal conductivity, but they're prone to thermal convection, in which big currents of flowing material (driven by gravity) carry the heat around. Those currents can be interrupted with very thin walls of plastic, as in styrofoam, an excellent thermal insulator. Blankets use cloth fibers to partially stop convection.
To get the best thermal insulation, sometimes it's necessary to also suppress thermal radiation (mainly infrared light). That can be done with very thin reflecting metal layers, like ones you see on a glass thermos bottle. But didn't we say metal is to be avoided? You certainly don't want metal reaching between the parts that are supposed to be at different temperatures, but it's ok to have metal layers all at one temperature- there's nowhere for them to take the heat.
Mike W.
A thermal insulator is something that prevents heat from moving from one place to another. There are 3 main ways that heat can travel: convection, conduction, and radiation. Typically the phrase 'thermal insulator' refers to a material that blocks conduction.
Conduction is what happens when something hot physically touches something cold. Heat moves from the hot surface into the cold one, warming it up. To keep this from happening, you use a material that heat can't move through very easily (a thermal insulator).
But what sort of material is that? Try some experiments. Wrap up a cup of really hot water in a material that you think might be an insulator (i.e. a blanket, perhaps). Set your hand on the outside of the insulator and see how hot it feels. Try it with different materials. The hotter it feels on the outside, the more heat is escaping from the inside, and the poorer the insulator is. Try the same thing with an ice cube. Which one feels the coldest from the outside?
-Tamara
You may also be wondering how a thermal insulator actually works.
The key point in getting rid of thermal conduction is to have very few ways in which thermal energy can travel easily. One of the best ways for thermal energy to travel is as energy in the electrons which conduct electricity in metals, so you want to avoid metals. Another is as tiny sound waves, so you don't want a good crystal (like sapphire) in which sound waves travel a long way before bouncing in a new direction. Gases (like air) have low thermal conductivity, but they're prone to thermal convection, in which big currents of flowing material (driven by gravity) carry the heat around. Those currents can be interrupted with very thin walls of plastic, as in styrofoam, an excellent thermal insulator. Blankets use cloth fibers to partially stop convection.
To get the best thermal insulation, sometimes it's necessary to also suppress thermal radiation (mainly infrared light). That can be done with very thin reflecting metal layers, like ones you see on a glass thermos bottle. But didn't we say metal is to be avoided? You certainly don't want metal reaching between the parts that are supposed to be at different temperatures, but it's ok to have metal layers all at one temperature- there's nowhere for them to take the heat.
Mike W.
(published on 10/22/2007)
Follow-Up #1: doing experiments
Q:
I'm doing an experiment using water and various insulators. I want to know how to do this in the best way for a true scientific outcome. My plan is to use small 25ml plastic test tubes placed in cardboard ice cream containers. I will make sure the water temp is taken before putting the containers outside for a specific period. I am considering using: feathers, styrofoam pieces, newspaper, sand and house insulation. Can you give me any advice on alternative insulators, or where to look for WHY different insulators work differently? I want to do great on this project, and find it interesting since my family spends so much time outdoors!
- Marion Hummer (age 11)
03062
- Marion Hummer (age 11)
03062
A:
Hi Marion- The key to doing a good scientific experiment is usually to have some question that you want to answer. You can design the experiment around that question.
Is your question "What material insulates water from outside temperature changes?"
Mike W.
(published on 02/22/2017)