7 replies to this topic

[StarLord]

Who would have thought...
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We're all encouraged to wear white in summer, since white clothing is supposed to keep us cool — but it doesn't. In fact, black clothing is the best way to keep cool in the heat. It's basic physics. And biology. Find out why cool people will wear black this summer.
Generally in summer, we're treated to lines of loose summery white clothing. Not only is the white supposed to look nice floating around the edges of a picnic — until a few seconds into the event, when it has its first grass stain — people claim that white is the ideal way to keep cool in the summer. When we see white, we're seeing the combination of all possible visible light. This means that white clothing reflects a great deal of wavelengths of energy coming in. This means it should reflect the sun's rays back, instead of letting them cook us. And that's perfectly correct.
Except that this explanation is also incomplete. Heat is not just coming in off of the sun. It's also coming off a person's own, sweating, warm-blooded, mammalian body, which is a lot closer than the sun is. When all that body heat hits the white clothing covering it, it gets reflected right back towards the body. When we wear white, we cook ourselves.
The best color to keep cool in the heat, it turns out, is to wear black. Black absorbs everything coming in from the sun, sure. But black also absorbs energy from the body instead of reflecting it back. Now, the helpfulness of black clothes depends on finding black clothes that are the same thickness and looseness as those summery white clothes. Black clothing also needs a little help from atmospheric conditions. Once it has absorbed heat, it has to have some way to radiate it away. If there's even a little wind, black clothing is the better choice for those who want to keep cool, like goths who understandably don't like sweating through their make-up. So find something black to wear this summer.
http://io9.com/59039...ack-this-summer

[Aravind Dealan-de]

Meh. Goth is so yesterday.

I'll stick to my light cotton loose peasant tops & long flowey skirts

[dreamwalker]

I would just go out in the grey jock strap and matching arm and head bands again though jail sucks.

On a serious note though I would suggest fondling other peoples cars. On a hot sunny day park in the furthest spot from the grocery store. On your half mile walk touch every black car and every white car and then use your well earned field experience to reply to this thread.

[StarLord]

Cars are not fabric. Paint jobs do not breathe.

[dreamwalker]

regardless dark colors absorb light and therefore heat. White reflects. Hang a white piece of fabric and the black same kind of fabric on a clothesline in the backyard on a sunny day and run the same trial.

[StarLord]

Yup. Familiar with that. So are the science geeks at i09. It's probably why they bothered to post the story.

Things that make you go hmmmm...

[dreamwalker]

So refuting common sense became a pasttime endevor for those who were trying too hard. Real world examples are easy to replicate and experience.

[StarLord]

As you may be aware of, sometimes common sense doesn't work when it comes to Science and vice versa.

Are you of the impression that this information came from Regulus IV, not of this world?

""What this means is relatively straightforward: black clothing absorbs sunlight and the heat radiating from your body, but if it is loose-fitting, and there is wind, the wind convects the heat away faster than it is absorbed. White clothing reflects sunlight, but also reflects internal heat back towards your body, so the net effect under identical conditions is less cooling than if you wore black. While it's true you don't often find fluffy black animals in deserts, you don't find many white animals, either--typically you find animals that blend into the background. So it appears that if heat gain and camouflage are in conflict, the need to avoid predation outweighs other considerations. On the other hand, desert-dwelling nomadic people such as the Tuaregs wear loose-fitting black clothing, and have been doing so for a very, very long time. If there were an advantage to wearing white clothes, you'd certainly expect they'd have figured that out by now.""

http://www.straightd...keep-you-cooler