If reflective surfaces deflect light, and metal is reflective, then why does it get so much hotter in the sun than an all black surface?

Question

If reflective surfaces deflect light, and metal is reflective, then why does it get so much hotter in the sun than an all black surface?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Reflective metal will not be hotter than black metal. But metals in general will get hotter than say plastics because they are really good at conducting heat; metals have a bunch of electrons than hang around, they get easily excited (and heated up)and pass the energy on to other electrons and so on and get heated up all the way thru. Plastics are generally poor conductors of heat, so the top layer gets warmed, but it doesn’t warm up the ones below before it radiates the heat away.