How are igloos warm inside? - Igloos - a great invention

For thousands of years, humans, plants and animals long before them used "Sky water" frozen to stay warm. Which doesn't really make sense. Because snow is cold. You could even say it's ... frozen. YEEAAHHHHH! No one knows for sure who built the first igloo, but with the right fit, and good physics, snow can actually warm you better than the inside of a Tauntaun. "I'll be fine, Luke!"

So how can something cold keep you warm?

The frozen Arctic is one of the most hostile environments, and yet, the Inuit managed to live there for about 5000 years. Outside on the ice, winter temperatures reach -45 ° C, and when it's cold, to survive means to find shelter. It is not a region known for its forests, so nomadic hunters have learned to build with the only thing available: snow. langa eskimo really has dozens and dozens of different words for snow, because there are many different types of snow, and the type of snow you choose can tell if your igloo keeps you warm, or turns you into a Homo Glaglatus. To understand this, we need to know a little more about the cold. When your body temperature starts to drop, you feel the heat leaving you. The cold cannot move through your body. 

Photo by Russ Widger on Unsplash

There is no such thing as cold. 

Where have I heard this before? Oh that's right! Think of heat as a real amount of something: The more you give, the colder you will be. This heat exchange can occur in three different ways: by convection, conduction and radiation. All three are involved in an igloo. A person inside radiates heat from their body, which moves around the igloo by convection, and is lost through the walls by conduction. This is exactly what is happening in your home. Isolation of living things does the same thing. Fatty tissues such as bacon prevent heat transfers in whales and seals, but in animals that don't have as much fat in the gut, they cover themselves in the air.

 The fur of sea otters, for example, is about 1,000 times denser than a human hair. "It's the sweetest thing I've ever touched" in my life. You are adorable!" ... but the secret of its insulating power is in its texture. the otter's fur is bristling, and traps air molecules. And that's exactly what snowflakes do. Fresh, powdery snow can consist of up to 95% air. This makes it an excellent insulator, but the same way you have to pack it in your hands to make a snowball, it is not dense enough to build with. Solid ice, on the other hand, is very good windbreaker, but is too heavy to lift. 

Inuit hunters have taken the Goldilock approach: 

the secret of good igloo snow is somewhere between the two. the bricks of traditional igloos are not molded, they are cut in the ground.This solidly packed block of snow is dense enough to hold, but because it still has a lot more air pockets that a block of ice, it is light, and still a very good insulator. As usual, animals realized this long before humans. Polar bears, marmots and even birds like the grouse, all make snow burrows to stay warm. And even before that, the plants slipped into the snow to avoid death by freezing. During hot months, the sun's thermal energy accumulates in the ground, and just like a roof over your head, a deep blanket of snow prevents the heat from leaking forward and up. 

This snow cover above prevents ice crystals from forming inside plant roots, shoots, and seeds. Not dying of cold is a very good motivator for any animal to become cunning, but our large primate brains took a step forward with the igloos. Their genius maximizes warmth and stability. in cartoons, igloos look like flat-bottomed half-spheres, but in reality, they don't look like that! in cartoons, igloos look like flat-bottomed half-spheres, but in reality, they don't look like that! If you had to cut a real igloo in 2, you would see a shape called a chain. 

This gently sloping shape is the same as that which would form if you took a chain by the 2 ends and drop it. A chain arc distributes the weight more evenly than a semicircle, without bulging or rotation. In fact, it is one of the most stable arcs in the wild, and we still use it today. Inside, the snow houses are carved on different levels. The hot air rises, and the cold air descends in the lower part, far from where you eat sleep and relax. at first, body heat melts the innermost layer of the wall, strengthening the barrier between you, the insulating block of snow, and the freezing exterior. 

When you live in an igloo, you act like a living oven. Over time, the temperature in your frozen home can stay around 5-10 ° C in the air but bring a friend to your igloo party, and you'll get hot faster. have a comfortable stay, and stay curious! Hey, do you remember what I said about eskimos having all these different words for snow?