insulations and how to stay warm

INSULATIONS AND HOW TO STAY WARM

On the home page is an article with this title that is 11 pages long.

I am going to take parts of the article and publish them in the newsletters. I will be adding necessary comments.

If you place polyester fiberfill or down between two materials the air that is trapped within the fiberfill or down does not move because air sticks to any surface for a distance of 1/8th of an inch. If you break up the air within the1/8th inch to smaller increments, it is still harder to move it, so it stagnates. Stagnant air like stagnant water will retain the heat that it receives and insulates, not the actual material. The material is the catalyst and the difference between the polyester and the down is that the polyester does not absorb the moisture that it is exposed too while the down does.

Down is an excellent absorber of moisture and if you are in and down filled product, sleeping bag or jacket it will be absorbing the moisture your body generates which will then absorb the heat your body is generating.

When I wrote the article, I mentioned polyester fiberfill as a generic. However, we know that the continuous filament fiberfill ounce for ounce is far superior to chopped staple fiber. Less of the continuous filament will attach to more air when it is in the web structure.

The sunlight that hits the earth warms the earth. It is this solar radiation that the earth receives that is absorbed by the clouds, oceans and landmasses. All of these objects then heat the air. The air is not heated by the radiant heat directly. The air around us is heated by the objects that absorbed the sun’s rays. When the earth is exposed, it is dark; i.e. soil and dark objects absorb heat, it will absorb the sun’s rays and heat up and the heat that the earth has absorbed will rise and heat the air it is coming in contact with. That is how the air is heated, not by the sun directly. All dark objects that are exposed to the sun’s rays absorb the heat in that manner and then heat the air that is in contact with the objects.

Those who live in large cities such as New York City know all too well that during the summer months the air in the city is far warmer than the air 10 miles away. My folks lived in Brooklyn about 3 miles as the crow flies from the ocean. When I would visit them during the summer months, I lived in Manhattan, the air temperature was 15/20 degrees lower than in Manhattan because Manhattan is a vast maze of concrete and black top. Even in the evening the buildings are radiating heat and it is significant.

During the winter if you are in an area that is snow covered look for a spot where the ground is not covered with snow. Each day that spot will get larger because the dark ground is absorbing the radiant heat and melting the snow. It is colder all around but that small area of exposed ground is warming.