I know generally the best insulator is empty space so most insulation materials are just trying to trap as much air as possible while preventing convection.
That all makes sense to me but I can’t make any sense of silicone. Why is silicone such a good thermal insulator? If money wasn’t an option, would silicone make for good insulation in a house?
In: Chemistry
Are you talking about silicone caulking? As far as I’m aware it doesn’t have a lot of intrinsic value as an insulator, but what it is good at is sealing small gaps where air can move in or out of a house. It helps increase the overall insulation of the house in this way, by preventing airflow.
Silicone is not that good of an insulator. It traps heat about as well as other plastics, but plastics are generally decent at trapping heat. It is pretty good at staying strong and not burning or melting at high temperatures, which is why you see it used for oven mitts and other kitchen items that get hot. It’s a good material for that because it doesn’t burn or melt, it is soft and flexible, and it is good enough at insulating.
The foam or fiberglass used to insulate houses is much better than silicone at trapping heat. Maybe 10-100 times better. Foams are just good insulators.
Silicone is basically silicone oil that where the molecules have been linked together so they don’t flow anymore. The individual molecules can wiggle around but the wiggles don’t effect the neighboring molecules that much precise everything is linked flexibly. Heat is basically molecules vibrating so heat doesn’t flow through silicone well.
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