Answer 1:
When an object appears a certain color when
illuminated by white light it means that it is
reflecting light of that color and absorbing all
other colors. For example, a red apple is
reflecting red light and absorbing all other
colors of light. The more light the object
absorbs, the more heat absorbed since light is
energy. If you consider it a color, black absorbs
the most heat. A black object absorbs all
wavelengths of light and reflects none. Objects
that are white, on the other hand, reflect all
wavelengths of light and therefore absorb the
least heat.
Now, what about a color like
yellow? It is difficult to compare the amount of
heat absorbed by a yellow object verses another
colored object like green or red because a lot of
other factors come into play. For example, the
intensity of the color, the incident illumination
(the wavelengths of light hitting the object) and
the angles of the light coming in and being
reflected all play a part in the amount of heat
absorbed. Now if you have a light yellow T-shirt
and a dark yellow T-shirt, you can confidently say
that the darker (more intense) yellow will absorb
more heat because there is more pigment (less
white). But comparing to another colored T-shirt
like blue-green or red you would have to
experimentally test! Click Here to return to the search form.
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