– How does concrete/asphalt heat up to insane temperatures that are way above the actual air temperature?

Question

The question pretty much sums it up. How TF is the asphalt 20-40° hotter than the air when it’s super hot?

In: 531

Answer 1

Everything soaks up heat like a sponge. Everything.

Air’s “heat sponge” sucks, so much so that air is usually used to keep heat *away* from other things. It just doesn’t hold very much of it, and doesn’t hold on to it for long.

Asphalt, on the other hand, has an excellent heat sponge. It soaks up *tons* (not an actual unit of heat) of heat, and it likes to hold on to it for a while.

So on a bright sunny day, the air is struggling to hold onto any thermal energy the sun puts out. It’ll get up to 80 or 90 F, but that’s it. Asphalt is drinking up all that thermal energy, holding on to it, and increasing in temperature way more than the air. So at noon on a sunny day, your air is warm and that pavement is scorching.