Why does adding a second pane of glass (double glazing) make such a huge difference, even if your walls etc are the same?
In: Physics
It’s easy to put insulation inside a wall, since you just make the outside part pretty – no one cares what is inside. This means walls are (usually) pretty good at keeping in the heat.
Windows on the other hand don’t have insulation. As such, this is where heat leaves the house. If it’s just a single glass heat can rather easily go through it. Now, air is actually a great way to insulate, so two pieces of glass with air between works great to keep heat inside the house.
So the little layer of air between the glass is actually the insulation, it has nothing to do with having more glass – that’s just a way for us to trap the air while keeping the window transparent.
Wall insulation actually also work due to air – here we use materials that trap a bunch of small air bubbles.
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