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Jacket Time!
| | Just like all other living creatures, we human beings must find a way to stay warm in winter. Explore this page to learn more about how we and other animals protect ourselves from the cold. |  dots on maps show where this event has already been seen see list of where people are wearing jackets outdoors |
What to look for:
Get your name published on the Wolf Ridge website! Be the first in your class to put on a jacket to go outside on a cold day! Wow your friends! Please your parents!
Three ways heat can travel
Heat always moves from a place that is warmer to a place that is colder. Think about an ice cube in your hand. As your hand gives heat to the ice cube, it begins to melt. You can give warmth to the ice cube in three main ways:
| Conduction | Convection | Radiation |
 |  |  |
| Heat travels from one object to another when those objects touch. When your warm hand touches the ice cube, some of the heat goes from your hand to the ice and begins to melt it. | Heat is carried to the ice cube by another moving substance. For instance, you can blow warm air from your lungs onto the ice cube. Two common substances heat travels in are moving air (wind) and water. | Heat can travel in heat waves. If you put the ice cube down and just hold your hand close to it, heat waves from your hand will slowly melt the ice. The earth gets warm when it absorbs heat waves from the sun. |
How can we keep ourselves warm in winter?
To stay warm on a cold day, you need to stop conduction, convection, and radiation. You will want to keep the warmth your body produces from traveling away from you.. This is where your jacket, mittens, and a hat can be your best friends. They can keep heat close to you by stopping or slowing down conduction, convection, and radiation.
Let's stick with the ice cube in the hand example, and put a good mitten in the picture.
| Conduction | Convection | Radiation |
 |  |  |
| The mitten should make a layer between you and the ice cube. If your skin doesn't touch the ice, the heat cannot leave your hand by conduction. The thicker the layer, the better the chance your hand will stay warm. Some substances conduct heat faster that others. Metal conducts heat very quickly. Cloth conducts heat more slowly. You hand would get cold faster wearing a mitten made of aluminum foil that one made out of wool. | The mitten should stop the nice warm air that surrounds your hand from blowing away. First, let's cover the mitten with a tightly woven fabric that the wind can't blow through. Next, we'll trap the warm air surrounding your hand in little spaces. Knitted mittens can trap warm air in between the knots in the yarn. Down feathers are great at trapping heat. So are other soft, fluffy layers. | The mitten should reflect the heat waves that your body produces back toward you hand. Just like light waves can be bounced backwards by a mirror, heat waves can be reflected back to what made them. Space blankets work because the shiny silver material reflects heat back. Radiation can also work to keep you warm. Dark colors will absorb the sun's radiant energy and make you warmer. |
Warm winter clothing will:
- block the wind
- trap warm air next to you
- act as a layer between you and whatever is cold
- reflect heat waves back in toward you
- absorb heat waves from the sun
It usually takes a combination of matierial to do all of these jobs well in one piece of clothing.
Remember! We make our own bodies warm when we burn food energy and use our muscles. Another way to stay warm is to keep moving, and to make sure you have had enough rest, food and drink before going outside.
Cool Facts
 | You lose 75% of your heat through your head. Wear a hat and be warm! |
 | Down, soft, fluffy feathers from birds, is one of the best insulators known. The only drawback is that when down gets wet, it gets flat and loses its ablility to insulate. Small birds also need to eat and move around almost constantly to stay warm |
 | Wool and polarfleece will both insulate even when they are wet. |
 | Water conducts heat faster that air. That is why you get cold faster when you are wet. |
 | Deer have hairs that are hollow inside. The warm air is trapped inside the hollow hairs. |
 | Snow is a great insulator! There is lots of room to trap air between snowflakes. It can be 60 degrees warmer under a blanket of snow than the air above the snow on a cold winter night. Mice and hibernating bears take advantage of this. People in igloos too! |
More about "Keeping Warm in Winter" on the Web
| Find out why you hear "if your feet are cold, put on a hat!" | ||
| What might happen if you DON'T stay warm . . .Includes another experiment | ||
| Advice for winter lovers and people who live in cold spots on the planet. | ||
| These tips are for anyone who goes out in winter. | ||
Learn more about how to stay warm in winter in these Wolf Ridge classes:
During Basic Survival, students will use the winter woods as a classroom as they participate in a small group survival situation. During the first 45 minutes indoors, students will participate in a simulated bus crash, make a list of the seven body needs for survival, and learn about hypothermia. Two hours will be spent on a survival activity in the Sawmill Creek Valley. Using limited resources, each group will construct a shelter, make a fire, boil water and make a cup of cider. As the instructor makes rounds from group to group, team building skills and a positive attitude will be stressed. Students will relate this experience to small group performances in everyday life and the benefit of positive group interaction to the environment.
Jackets are Being Worn In . . .
| School | Town | Date | Observer | Comments |
| St. Mary's | Morris | 9/18 | Susan H. | A cold and windy day! |
| Wolf Ridge | Finland | 9/18 | Everybody! | It got cold fast! |
| Shell Lake Jr. High | Shell Lake, WI | 9/25 | Justin H., Nikki S. | . |
| North Shore | Two Harbors | 9/29 | 6th grade class | . |
| St Pascal | St. Paul | 10/2 | Joan H. | . |
| Our Lady of the Lake | Mound | 10/28 | . | . |