What are some good materials I can find at home to use as insulators?

Question

In science class I am building a "solar collector", which uses the sun's energy to power something. In order to make it good, you must include some sort of insulating material to put in or on the box it is made out of. I have already decided to cover it with black construction paper (since black absorbs all of the colors of the electromagnetic spectrum). What are some other things I could do to insulate my box?

Answer 1

If you make your box in a material that has good insulating properties, you're going to prevent the heat of the sun going in... Are you sure that's what you want to do?

And the best insulator you can find is "air", since I suppose your country removed abestos from circulation.
Just make 2 sheets of something hard enough to keep some air in between and make sure they don't touch each other (use a few small balls of wood to keep them apart)
And make sure air can't flow from the exterior or the interior to the middle of your insulator (paint it, especially the joints)

Answer 2

Plastics are good electric insulators, as it glass and air. The best way to use air as an insulator is to keep it from circulating, such as is done in foamed stryofoam and the pink fiberglass insulation seen at construction sites. I believe that you are trying to keep the generated heat in an enclosed volume between the heat absorbing material and the air. In that case, I would recommend that you use a plastic container such as is used for fresh produce in grocery stores. Into this, and so as to insulate the black material from the box itself, use styrofoam material to support the black material. I might suggest either the top or bottom half of a styrofoam egg container. Glue the half egg carton into the plastic container then glue black paper onto the egg carton foam. Then close the plastic container cover over the whole assembly. This should keep the most heat in the plastic container. If the plastic container has ventilation holes for the original fruit etc. use transparent tape (Scotch tape) to cover each of the holes. You might also use tape to hold the plastic container closed, as well as to keep the hot air inside. I hope that this helps, Good Luck!

Answer 3

The Key to Insulation is the non-movement of air ( or Still Air ) around what ever it is you are trying to insulate. For example: In the empty space in the walls there is air. With the differences in temperature of the outside of your home and inside of your home the air in the wall moves. So to prevent air movement fiberglass insulation is placed in the empty space in the walls to prevent the movement of air. Really any thing will work as long as you have a really good seal preventing the movement of air around what ever it is your insulating

Answer 4

Try this for a "quick and dirty" solution: build a smaller box inside a larger box, and in the space between them, spray some expanding foam found at any home improvement store. Depending on the size of your collector, you will need more than one or two cans. But it works really well!

Answer 5

Wood would be good in this case. Inexpensive and easy to cut and nail together. However for thermal insulation add some ordinary fiberglass house insulation between the panels and wood frame.

Answer 6

thermocol that comes along with packings

Answer 7

cover it with some rubber