Why is it warm in houses made of ice, or How to maintain comfortable conditions in an Eskimo igloo

  • Dec 14, 2020
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Why is it warm in houses made of ice, or How to maintain comfortable conditions in an Eskimo igloo
Why is it warm in houses made of ice, or How to maintain comfortable conditions in an Eskimo igloo

Looking at small houses made of ice or snow cubes, most of us ask the question: "How can you live in such a strange house in harsh conditions?" But the northern peoples know that there is nothing more reliable than ice igloos, and if you build them correctly, then at a temperature of -40 ° outside, indoors it will be + 20 °! Our further story is about what needs to be done to live in comfortable conditions in an extreme climatic zone.

Igloo is the traditional winter home of the Eskimos. | Photo: ru.depositphotos.com/ politeka.net.
Igloo is the traditional winter home of the Eskimos. | Photo: ru.depositphotos.com/ politeka.net.

Looking at small hemispheres created from snow or ice, an ordinary person living in temperate or subtropical zones, it is difficult even to imagine how in such conditions it is possible to exist person. But not everything is as incomprehensible as it seems at first glance, it is enough to understand the construction technology and know some laws of physics, and it will immediately become clear why the igloo is considered the most reliable winter shelter in all northern peoples.

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Igloo hotels have become very popular lately. | Photo: funon.cc.

Help from the Novate editors. Ru: An Igloo is a domed structure created from blocks of ice, compacted snow, or carved from a snowdrift of suitable density and size. Such a building is a traditional place for indigenous peoples living in territories of the polar coast of North America from Greenland to Nunavut and in the northeastern part Chukotka. These people belong to the Arctic race, the more common name for the nation is the Eskimos.

The smaller the igloo, the warmer and more comfortable it will be inside. | Photo: vesti.ru.

Since ancient times, people have known that the smaller the room, the warmer it will be inside. It is this knowledge that Eskimos use to the fullest when creating ice or snow houses, so no one makes huge domes. The most optimal dimensions for the construction of an igloo for one person are considered to be hemispheres with a diameter of 2.7 m. for a family of 3, a building diameter of 3.4 m will suffice.As a rule, the height of any of these buildings does not exceed 2 m.

The quickest way to get a home is to make an igloo in a large snowdrift. | Photo: nepropadu.ru/ drive2.ru.

Considering that it is very difficult to cut squares of the desired shape from ice, most often they use compacted by winds or well packed snow, which is watered outside with water at the end of construction to strengthen and "insulate" as much as possible construction. But the easiest way to build housing is considered to be when excess snow is selected in a deep snowdrift, walls are compacted and the exit is strengthened. Moreover, the entrance hole (it cannot be called a traditional entrance in any way!) Is always made below the floor level.

This strange arrangement is due to physical laws that help maintain a comfortable temperature in a snow house and ensure proper ventilation. In the event that the snowdrift does not have sufficient depth, they break through the wall at the lowest point and, separately, with the help of snow bricks, a kind of sleeve-corridor is made through which you can... crawl into your house.

The entrance to the igloo will always be below floor level. | Photo: expo-capital.rf.

Note: The location of the entrance "door" in the form of a hole of the required diameter below the floor level is mandatory when creating an igloo from any "building" material, so you can get inside only by crawling.

An ordinary person cannot build an igloo on his own, the Eskimos have been learning this skill all their lives. | Photo: dead-v-life.ru/ bolshoyvopros.ru.

Assembling an Eskimo house from "bricks" made of snow and ice is a more complex and time-consuming process. Thanks to the Canadian polar explorer, ethnographer and writer Villalmur Stefansson, the first non-Eskimo, who built an igloo with his own hands in 1914, now we can learn all the secrets of the reliability of a winter shelter Eskimos.

To keep the igloo warm, you need to know all the technological subtleties of creation. | Photo: turpohod.org/ pikabu.ru.

As it turned out, the strength of the traditional dwelling of the northern peoples is due to the unique shape of the blocks from which it is created. It is this subtlety that allows the hut to be folded in a spiral (in the form of a snail) with a gradual narrowing towards the top. Also pay attention to how the ice / snow blocks are installed. When laying each "brick", you should know that it must be in close contact with the previous row at three points simultaneously and with the same emphasis. In the upper part of the structure, when the completion of the masonry is nearing the end, a small gap is left without fail, which acts as a chimney. To further strengthen the rounded walls of the structure and the stability of the hut, the finished structure is watered from the outside with water, as in the above-described method for creating an igloo.

Eskimo houses are illuminated with fat and a wick. | Photo: vamvigvam.ru.

Some settlements make windows in their dwellings to provide more sunlight. Naturally, traditional glazing is not possible here, so ice blocks of the desired shape or cut and cleaned stomachs of seals are used as "windows". If this is not done, then the main source of light becomes the snow itself or the translucency of the ice, as well as the chimney and the opening of the entrance to the igloo. During the onset of the polar winter, a tallow candle made of moss and reindeer fat is used for lighting, or a small bowl with fish / seal oil and a wick is installed.

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Important! If the igloo was built correctly, the temperature inside the ice / snow structure remains quite comfortable even without "heating". It keeps within + 16-20 degrees, even if the thermometer on the street drops below minus 40 ° Celsius.

Traditional Eskimo igloo interior. | Photo: travelask.ru.

The simple interior design of Eskimo dwellings is the same in all Arctic regions of the planet. To create at least some comfort, there are always skins on the igloo floor, sometimes they are hung on the walls. In order to provide a higher temperature in the event of severe frosts, residents of ice houses begin to heat their house with the same fat, only the bowl and wick will already be larger. Food and hot drinks are also prepared over this fire.

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Such "heating devices" help not only to maintain a comfortable temperature in this energy-efficient housing, they contribute to additional strengthening of the structure only from the inside structures. Due to the fact that the wall shell and vaulted ceiling are heated, the snow begins to melt a little, although condensation and water will not drip onto the floor, because the upper layers will absorb it like a sponge. On the upper level, the water freezes in minutes. Thanks to this property, excess moisture evaporates, forming additional protection from wind and cold, while inside the igloo it will always be dry and comfortable.

Only a piece of ice serves as protection from the encroachments of polar bears. | Photo: gazeta.ru.

And one more important issue related to home safety, in order to keep more heat at night and to prevent the appearance of unexpected guests in the face of a polar bear, the entrance inside the igloo is blocked with a large piece ice. It is not known whether they make such a barrier in cases where all the houses of the settlement communicate with each other by additional snow tunnels, but that such paths exist is a confirmed act.

Ice structures are appreciated not only by the Eskimos; in most of Russia, ice cellars have been very popular for a long time. They were built in a special way and still,
these roofs without houses surprise the modern inhabitants of megacities, but in distant villages, people cannot imagine their existence without them.
A source:
https://novate.ru/blogs/240520/54623/