Question

Explain why materials such as plastic foam, feathers, and fur are poor conductors of heat.

Answer 1

The atoms of some materials have no free electrons in their outer orbits. These electrons are busy doing other jobs, like being shared in the orbits of two adjacent atoms. They are so closely held that it is very difficult to pull them away. Most compounds of carbon and hydrogen are like this. 

Plastics, whose molecules are made from long combinations of carbon and hydrogen atoms, have few or no free electrons. This means that plastics are poor conductors of electricity (and they are also poor conductors of heat). hope that helped.