A science expert has claimed there is a reason houses in the UK feel "insanely hot" - and the bizarre way that people could prevent it. The UK is bracing for its third heatwave of the year, with some parts of the country expected to heat up from Monday, July 6, with peaks surging up to 30°C.
Last week saw several June temperature records shattered as a historic heatwave swept across large parts of the UK. Cambridge professor and BBC regular Hannah Fry has posted another piece of "slightly impractical" science that could help Brits beat the upcoming heat.
Known as the greenhouse effect, light from the sun that passes through glass window panes heats up an area, she explained to her 2.2m followers. These light waves can penetrate the glass with no problem, but it's the light trying to leave that causes the problem.
Once inside your room, these waves of hot energy are essentially "trapped", leading to the feeling of unbearable heat. Hannah said: "As soon as [the light waves] get inside, they bounce around and they change to much shorter wavelengths - and they're then trapped.
"It's sort of like you've got this one-way filter to the outside, letting in loads of energy but not letting any of it escape, which is why your room ends up heating up."
The upcoming Celebrity Traitors contestant claims that most Brits will have probably heard about the curtain tip to keep homes protected from as much of this heat as possible when temperatures spike. But, there's something better - albeit bizarre - to try during the next heatwave.
Hannah said: "A lot of people, myself included, will close the curtains on a warm day, but it's like you're sort of trying to stop the invaders once they're already inside the room. It kind of helps a little bit, but nowhere near as good as if you hang a sheet on the outside of your window.
"If you really want to minimise the amount of extra energy that is coming in when it's absolutely boiling outside, you should get some tinfoil and basically copy what they do in space. Get some tinfoil and then attach it to the outside of your window."
Tinfoil acts like a mirror for invisible heat rays. Aluminium foil reflects up to 90% of radiant heat from the sun, so when placed on a window, it bounces the sun's energy back outside before it can enter the room.
If you do try this during the next heatwave, put the foil on the outside of the glass. If you put foil on the inside, the heat still goes through the glass and gets trapped in an even more dangerous place.
Heat stays trapped between the glass and the foil, and this extra heat can make the window too hot, causing it to crack or shatter.
