News Flash: Black Cars Get Hotter Than White Cars

This is especially pertinent to those of use with CBP CivicXs.

https://www.motor1.com/news/367916/thermal-video-black-cars-hot/

The backdoor at my old apartment used to face the afternoon sun. It was painted black.

I measured it as high as 210F with my infrared gun. Black gets h-o-t.

News flash? That black reflects the least amount of light is like, one of the most basic pieces of scientific information ever. I think they taught me that in school in grade 4 maybe?

AquaGoat said:

News flash? That black reflects the least amount of light is like, one of the most basic pieces of scientific information ever. I think they taught me that in school in grade 4 maybe?

Click to expand...

It's a little more complicated that this, and the whole thing is rather hard to comprehend to not only 4-graders, but most people who are not physicists, and even some scientists.

Dark matte surfaces do absorb more light and heat radiation than white shiny surfaces, but they also radiate out more heat. So yes, a black surface directly exposed to the sun at low temperature (low means here much lower than the temperature of the Sun) may get significantly hotter than a white surface, because at these conditions the reflection has more impact. It has more impact, because the cooling happens mostly by transfer to surrounding air, not by radiation. But if you look at the temperature difference inside a black car vs. a white car exposed to direct sun, this difference, while not zero, will be rather small.

might be small but you can feel it. double talk above. all that and what do you say same thing as preschool art class.