Why aren’t heat shield tiles on rockets and space shhuttles white since white paint reflects heat better?
In: 5
white works to reflect energy that is coming in as light, because white absorbs less light than other colors.
However, heat from re-entry is due to rubbing (friction) of air against the ship and compression (air gets hotter when you squeeze it… and it’s being squeezed really hard by being in front of the ship)
because of these things, the color wouldn’t have that big of an effect. for example, it makes no difference what color your teapot is. it heats up more or less the same on the stove.
instead, they focus on making the best insulation they can – whatever color it is.
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