What does the word insulation mean and how is it used?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, insulation is:
1- the act of covering something to stop heat, sound, or electricity from escaping or entering, or the fact that something is covered in this way:
The animal's thick fur provides very good insulation against the arctic cold.
2- material that is used to stop heat, sound, or electricity from escaping or entering:
Glass fiber is often used as roof insulation.
Basically, the term refers to the action of preventing or limiting the transference of temperature, sound, electricity or vibrations from a material to another or from an environment to another. Equally known as insulation are materials that are used to carry out said work.
More specifically in construction, insulation is a material that will increase the thermal resistance of walls, floors and roofs. Its application is designed to preventing that indoor temperatures match outdoor ones; so, the thermal performance of the building will be raised and it will be helped to remain cool in summer and warm in winter. Another of the functions of insulation is increasing acoustic performance by reducing the sound transference from outdoors towards indoors in a building or between adjoining rooms.
It is important not to confuse the word insulation with: insolation or isolation, whose respective meanings, according to the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, can be checked below:
The former word, insolation
1 : exposure (as of fruits or drugs) to the rays of the sun usually to induce curing, drying, maturing
2 : SUNSTROKE
3 a : solar radiation that has been received (as by the earth)
b : the rate of delivery of direct solar energy per unit of horizontal surface
The latter word, isolation
1 : the action of isolating or condition of being isolated.
2 : a segregation of a group or organism from related forms in such a manner as to prevent crossing.
Different categories of Isolation:
♦ Behavioral isolation
♦ Mechanical isolation
♦ Temporal isolation
♦ Gametic isolation
♦ Geographic isolation
♦ Reproductive isolation
♦ Habitat isolation
♦ Ecological isolation
Other Topics:
• History of thermal insulation
• Adequate insulation
• Wet insulation
• Adding boric acid
• Differences between insulation and isolation
• Some good reasons to update insulation
• Environmentally friendly insulation