How can I explain in scientific terms why fur is a good insulator for heat?

Question

I am doin science coursework however my teacher said I have to use more scientific knowledge. Can any1 tell me what I can put for this as all I have is "Fur is good becuz polar bears have it".............

Answer 1

What you need to realize first is how heat is transferred from place to place. There are three basic ways that heat is transferred: 1) conduction, 2) convection, and 3) radiation. Which modality is the most rapid, or most efficient? It turns out that convection is the most efficient and radiation is the least efficient. This is why when you have some hot pizza cheese stuck to the roof of your mouth, you have three choices: You can sit there and open your mouth wide and let the heat radiate away into the room, or you can wait for it to conduct away through your skin and tissues, or you can blow on it or drink some cold liquid to convect the heat away. Which do you think is the most effective? Convection will win every time. So if you are insulating, you want the opposite, I mean you WANT the heat to stay there. So your best bet is to minimize convection, and fur, especially wooly type fur, does exactly that. This is also why we use fiberglass insulation in our homes. It is also why wet fur or wet clothing is a much poorer insulator than dry fur or dry clothing is. Dry insulation greatly messes up any convection that might otherwise rob you of your heat, but wet insulation cannot do this nearly as well. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Fur on animals is a very effiecient insulator. It acts as a natural barrier against wind and rain and it also help an animal to retain body heat. Fur is usually very dense on an animals body and as heat escapes through the skin some is trapped in between the dense fur which helps the animal maintain a steady body temperature and use a minimal amount of energy to heat itself.

Answer 3

Heat transfer takes place due to conduction,convection or radiation. Suppose you have vessel having boiling water. We do not want heat loss. So we cover it with Fur. Fur is a bad conductor of heat. So it will not allow heat to be lost either due to conduction or radiation.No heat can be lost due to convection in this case. Now imagine human body instead of vessel. The same explanation applies. The body warmth is preserved inside and is not allowed to be lost. Hence the cosy feeling in wearing a fur coat.

Answer 4

Your mom is robust. interior the iciness the fur promises heat temperature. interior the summertime a canine's coat insulates from the solar's rays to boot as protecting as plenty warmth faraway from the physique because it could. questioning approximately it. canine shed the thick iciness coat via fact they have not have been given any prefer for that greater risk-free practices. Is it going to maintain him super cool? No even though it does help.

Answer 5

Its a good insulator beacause most of it is made from air - the best insulator of all.