heat generated by direct sunlight on a white car vs. a black car.

Question

I have a black car and a white car. It’s a sunny, 95-degree day.

The white car’s paint is warm to the touch while obviously the black car’s paint is extremely hot to the touch. I get that the black paint is absorbing most of the the sun’s light energy, which gets converted to heat. But the white paint is clearly being warmed by the sun to some degree as well. Is this because the white paint is not an absolutely pure white that reflects back 100% of the sun’s light energy, i.e., it still absorbs some small amount? Or is the warmth I’m feeling on the white car’s paint basically just the air temperature?

In: Physics

Answer 1

It’s because it is not truly reflecting back 100% of the light.

It’s reflecting back a lot of it, but not all of it. Even mirrors do not reflect back 100% of the light that hits them.