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When you understand the processes behind heating and cooling, you understand how to mentally approach the challenge of keeping your living space at an adequate temperature. Heat is transferred to and from objects via three distinct processes known as conduction, radiation, and convection. Conduction is basically heat that travels through material. On a blazing day, heat is conducted into your home through the roof, the walls, and the windows. You can help reduce this conduction by utilizing roofs that reflect heat, smart insulation, and energy efficient windows. Radiation is essentially heat that travels in the form of light, whether you can see it or not. The sun cycle is a classic example of heating and cooling through radiation. In addition to the rays of the sun, low-wavelength, invisible infrared radiation can ferry heat directly from hotter objects to colder objects. Infrared radiation is also the answer to the question of why you're able to feel the searing heat of a hot burner on a stovetop, even from across the room. An older window will allow infrared radiation coming from warm objects outside to radiate into the objects in your home. A newer window has a special coating that blocks the infrared radiation. Convection is yet another means for the heat from your surroundings to get over to your body. It involves the natural process of hot air rising, carrying heat away from your walls and causing it to circulate throughout your home. As the hot air circulates, you absorb it through your skin and your breathing, which results in you getting warmer. As for cooling, your body accomplishes that through the three processes known as convection, radiation, and perspiration. Two of these three processes (convection and radiation) are used for heating and cooling. Ventilation is capable of boosting the cooling factor of any of the three. Convection happens when heat is taken away from your body by moving air. If the air surrounding you proves to be colder than your skin, then the air will absorb your heat, and it will leave you. As the warmed up air rises out of you, cooler air drifts in to take its place and absorb even more of your warmth. Radiation happens when heat radiates through the space existing between you and the objects situated around you in any given room. If the objects located around you are warmer than you are, then heat will travel towards you. Removing heat through a ventilation method drops the temperature of the various objects. The colder your surroundings are, the more you will give off heat to the objects, resulting in you getting cooled down. Perspiration can be rather annoying, but many people don't properly appreciate the fact that perspiration is the body's strongest cooling mechanism during exercise and times of hot weather! As moisture leaves your skin, it carries a significant amount of heat with it, cooling your body down. Without understanding heating and cooling, human civilization would have never flourished like it does now. When in need of heating and cooling services, rely on the team at Comfort 1 Heating & Air Conditioning. Learn more at http://comfort1.net.
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