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Environmental Building Physics: Why a Cold Window Chills a Warm Room

The physics of comfort in buildings: heat, sun, air, light and sound, and the passive tricks that save energy without machines.

Environmental Building Physics · 50 questions

Try 3 questions

1. Sitting beside a large cold window in a heated room, you feel chilly even though the air is warm. Why?

  1. Cold air leaks straight through the glass
  2. Glass absorbs oxygen from the nearby air
  3. Your body radiates heat to the cold glass
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Answer: Your body radiates heat to the cold glass

Comfort depends on surface temperatures as well as air: a cold pane draws radiant heat from your skin, so that side of you feels cool.

2. Why do insulation materials such as mineral wool or foam insulate so well?

  1. They trap air in tiny pockets so it can't circulate
  2. They contain chemicals that absorb heat energy
  3. Their fibers reflect all heat back into the room
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Answer: They trap air in tiny pockets so it can't circulate

Still air is a poor conductor; breaking it into tiny cells stops convection, so heat must crawl slowly through the material.

3. When comparing two windows, which U-value indicates better insulation?

  1. The lower U-value
  2. The one closest to 1.0
  3. The higher U-value
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Answer: The lower U-value

The U-value measures how much heat passes per square meter for each degree of difference, so a smaller number means less heat lost.

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