Constructing Environment Week 9 studio journal Jianpeng Deng, 657598 This week, the videos on E-‐learning are giving the concepts of “heat and moisture” and “plastics, rubber & paint”. The first video tells the strategies of preventing houses from heat and moisture; in terms of moisture, the three strategies are ‘to remove openings’, ‘to keep water away from openings’ and ‘to neutralize forces that move water through openings’. Here, openings do not refer to doors and windows, but those like gaps, window or wall edges, holes and cracks through the buildings etc. Sealants are an example of ‘removing openings’, as it is made of silicone normally used to fill the unnecessary gaps, therefore, openings are then removed. Drips are an example of ‘keeping water away from openings’, it works as the water goes to the tip and drop down instead of getting into the inner space of the building. Pressure equalization chamber is an example of the last strategy, as it fill up the inside gap of capillary breaks so that the pressure inside the capillary breaks is same as the pressure outside the house, therefore, water will never get into the break as well as the house itself. On the other hand, in order to control heat, heat conduction, heat radiation and thermal heat are important to know. Thermal break, it is low conductive and is placed between two conductive materials to limit heat flow, therefore, the temperature outside the house does not affect much the temperature inside. Shade is needed to block the sunlight, so that the temperature inside houses would not get high as the radiation brings heat along. Ventilation is a good example of thermal mass, openings are needed for the air to flow in and out, if not, air would contain in the house and could not bring the heat to the outside, the inside temperature then increases. Moreover, the other video briefly talks about the three common materials – plastics, rubber and paint. Rubber is excellent in elasticity that it is easy to bend rather than stiff or brittle, also, rubber is a soft material that is used in flooring does reduce friction. Plastic has two types that are thermoplastics and thermosetting plastic; the former one could be moulded and soften anytime when heated, whereas the latter one could only be moulded at the first time when heated, and after that, it would only be soften but not moulded when
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