Eli5: Does black clothing eat up thermal heat like light does?

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I’ve heard that black clothing is impractical to wear in a sunny day as light gets eaten up a lot, but if we were to be in, let’s say, a classroom, then we mostly have to worry about our own body heat than if we were outside, thermal energy.

So is black clothing impractical to wear indoors? Or will it be just as hot if you were to wear any other color of clothing?

In: Physics

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Black is the ultimate absorber of light, outdoors you’re typically exposed to the sun which generates a great deal of heat via light. That’s why you are warmer outdoors if you wear black. What colour you wear doesn’t make a difference if you’re talking about heat coming from a radiator or air vent. But if you were to stick an arm in a black sleeve and an arm in a white sleeve under the same light inside I do believe you’d find the black sleeve gets warmer faster.

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