Black cars and hot weather

[LandyAndy]

The Grinch took BlackBetty across to Narrogin today for a shopping trip.
When they got home Lindsay was complaining wicked that black cars suck on hot days.
I said didnt you have the aircon on.He said flat out but it isnt very good.
:mad::mad::mad::mad:The Grinch has broken my car again:mad::mad::mad::mad:
Asked The Grinch what SHE did to MY aircon.Wasnt me,I didnt touch anything.I doesnt work.
Grabed the keys,and checked.Sure enough,fan flat out,aircon set to economy:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Andrew

[Narangga]

Isn't that an election slogan ...

IT'S THE ECONOMY STUPID!

[nice1guv]

Black cars sure do look the goods, but they really drink in that sun.... it's like driving around in a furnance on a hot day. :p

Sometimes I can't even put my hand on the paint work of my bro's black car. :o

[JDNSW]

In the Australian context black is the worst possible colour for a car - it is all very well to say "you've got aircon haven't you?" - but that does not help when parked, and temperatures will be around 20 degrees above that of a white car. This will help the deterioration of the interior, not to mention your groceries, camera, laptop, anything else in the car. Mind you, because of the near vertical glass, Landrovers do not get anywhere near as hot as most cars.

Add to this the higher accident rate for black cars due to their not being as visible.....

John

[DirtyDawg]

Strange though that the clothing of choice for a lot of Desert nomadic tribes is "Black":confused:

[scarry]

And also the darker the colour of the car the worse the scratches appear:(

I had a Niagra grey disco for a few yrs,and with a combination of a lot of bush work,and young children,it had a lot of bad scratches on it that would not polish out.
The white one i had next,was also scratched but the scratches were hardly visible,& most of them easily polished out.

[Savanahkelpy]

Strange though that the clothing of choice for a lot of Desert nomadic tribes is "Black":confused:
DirtyDawg is oh so close to the truth of the matter, as its not so much a matter of them not having access to dyes of other colours. Even tho' black, as a colour, gets a lot hotter than white or the other colours, it sheds heat better than other colours. Most people only ever quote half half the equasion, about black being a hotter colour so here,s a thought, even if you have a white vehicle, the radiator is still black!
The radiator at the back of your white refridgerater is still black!
I consulted a refridgeration mechanic about this, i figured, he should know,,,,
Cheers all :D

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Strange though that the clothing of choice for a lot of Desert nomadic tribes is "Black":confused:Only very few of the Bedouin tribes and that is mainly to differentiate themselves from other tribes.

Just walk down any car park or even car sales yard and put your hand on the bonnet of all the different coloured vehicles. You would never find me buying a dark colour or even a black shaded car.

[taff]

black get's hotter quicker but also shed's heat quicker that's why a lot of house roof's are dark. it's better at night cos it loses the heat quicker and why polar bears are white cos it retains the heat longer.

[DiscoTDI]

I have 2 black cars and find there is bugger all difference once the aircon is on, sure the paintwork gets hotter than a white car but I dont sit on my bonnet when I am driving;)





Add to this the higher accident rate for black cars due to their not being as visible.....

John


I dont believe they are any less visible than a silver or blue or most of the new colour cars that are out there. Unfortunately most people do not do this, but when I am on the highway or in reduced visibility I have my headlights on.

[Savanahkelpy]

black get's hotter quicker but also shed's heat quicker that's why a lot of house roof's are dark. it's better at night cos it loses the heat quicker and why polar bears are white cos it retains the heat longer.
missquoted physics? and half equasions, again,,, i,ve always thought that polar bears were white to blend in with their environment, and it was fur and body fat, that retained their body warmth. Sure, house roofs get painted white or light colours, because it absorbs less heat, and reflected more, but the total physics of black is it absorbs better and sheds better. Still, if you want to dissagree, fair enough, as i,m only quoting what i was told and believe, as being relevent to cars.

[JohnR]

Guys, Guys, Guys, Stop being so practical! Live life for fashion :D Black looks cool ipso facto it is cool :p

We've got a black defender and wouldn't trade it for one of those boring looking white ones :eek: :wasntme:

We're the ones looking cool :D :cool:

and remember it's all about how you feel on the inside :)

Cheers,

[Lotz-A-Landies]

black get's hotter quicker but also shed's heat quicker that's why a lot of house roof's are dark. it's better at night cos it loses the heat quicker and why polar bears are white cos it retains the heat longer.Black only sheds the heat when the source of the heat has gone.

I think you will find that dark roofs are a result of fashion, the same phenomenon that results in black shaded cars, or the colour/shade of the material the roof is made of and not any scientific analysis of the problem.

What really annoys me is local councils in rural Australia who are now specifying the colour of sheds, particularly ones that require dark green. Have you ever worked in a dark coloured metal shed on a hot day, sauna would be a better term for it. By far the best colour for a roof would be a silver reflective colour (or is silver a shade?) and that was the traditional colour of the roofs in outback Australia. (Except that they also had the name of the station painted on the roof.) Our local council wanted our galvanised iron sheds which had been up for 20 years at the time painted. So we painted them with the colours of paint we had available white gloss mixed with pink primer and the roofs were painted with silver. The inspector came back some years later and required that we paint them again dark green. We suggested that the shed was a joinery and it would be impossible to work in a dark green shed. He said that local ordinances required that sheds on rural properties be painted in environmental colours, so we painted the sheds in pale yellow, the colour of the dry grass environment at the time. When the inspector returned and asked about the yellow he was informed the reason and he was stumped for any basis to paint his favoured dark green.


<snip> ...
We've got a black defender and wouldn't trade it ...<snip>

<snip> ... and remember it's all about how you feel on the inside :)

Cheers, I'd be feeling hot and sticky. That would never be considered cool! ;) :D

[taff]

missquoted physics? and half equasions, again,,, i,ve always thought that polar bears were white to blend in with their environment, and it was fur and body fat, that retained their body warmth. Sure, house roofs get painted white or light colours, because it absorbs less heat, and reflected more, but the total physics of black is it absorbs better and sheds better. Still, if you want to dissagree, fair enough, as i,m only quoting what i was told and believe, as being relevent to cars.

aint that what i said? and...
why would polar bears need to blend into their environment - they dont hunt as such, they're prey is beneath the snow/ice so no need to blend in

[Wortho]

polar bears are white cos it retains the heat longer.


Polar bear fur is translucent their skin is pure black, the fur allows the skin to absorb heat and reflects the white from the snow so they blend in.

[Savanahkelpy]

Why would a polar bear need to blend into its environment,, to hunt seals on the ice, but i also suspect, its another one of mother nature mystries, and i still can,t explained why car radiaters are black as i don,t have the figues that would prove or dissprove the statement that black sheds heat better, for the need to paint car radiators, black, yet so many light coloured cars have back radiaters. :D

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Why would a polar bear need to blend into its environment,, to hunt seals on the ice, but i also suspect, its another one of mother nature mysteries, and i still can,t explained why car radiators are black as i don,t have the figures that would prove or disprove the statement that black sheds heat better, for the need to paint car radiators, black, yet so many light coloured cars have back radiators. :D
Polar bears are white for the reasons of camouflage, i.e. so their prey, being the animals under the ice or those like seals and penguins above don't see them and escape. It would be a factor of evolution, the light coloured bears were more successful in the catching food, were more able to breed up and eventually the light coloured bears became white polar bears.

You may find that radiators became black when manufacturers wanted to hide the radiator so it wouldn't spoil the style of the outside. It then became the standard and no one thinks about it any more.

[Savanahkelpy]

i think that Lotz-A-landies may be right as looking at it from a stye POV, is something i havn,t considered, yet i can, help feeling that there is more to it, (heat loss due to colour), than just that. I,m not dissagreeing, as i,m thankfull for all the input from all of you, as its all food for thought. :)

[Bigbjorn]

I used to have a 1937 Chrysler nine seat mourner's coach bought from a funeral parlour. Car was black of course, with very dark green interior. I reckon you could have cooked the Sunday roast inside it on a Qld. summer day. However with a scuttle scoop, and opening front and rear quarter windows the hot interior air was replaced with outside air in a couple of blocks at 30mph. I learnt early in my ownership to have thick towels to put on the dark green leather seats if the car was left in the sun. Leather seats in Qld sun are dangerous, get hot enough to give nasty burns.

[JDNSW]

I have 2 black cars and find there is bugger all difference once the aircon is on, sure the paintwork gets hotter than a white car but I dont sit on my bonnet when I am driving;)

As stated - aircon does nothing while parked.



I dont believe they are any less visible than a silver or blue or most of the new colour cars that are out there. Unfortunately most people do not do this, but when I am on the highway or in reduced visibility I have my headlights on.

Right - some of the silver/grey/blue colours are just as bad if not worse than black. And it is not a matter of belief, but of accident statistics. And you don't leave your lights on when parked.

John

[PhilipA]

See this.
Color and Heat Absorption (http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00156.htm)

and this.
GCSE SCIENCE PHYSICS HIGH SCHOOL - Heat Radiation - Surfaces - Absorption - Emission - gcsescience.com. (http://www.gcsescience.com/pen10-matt-black.htm)

Basically why radiators are black is that you WANT them to emit radiation at the highest rate.
You do NOT want your car to absorb radiation at the highest rate.
Regards Philip A

[abaddonxi]

I thought most polar bears are more of a **** yellow than an arctic white.:p

Simon

[p38arover]

I'm sure you all did the physics experiment at school regarding radiation from black bodies. However, the radiator in my P38A Rangie is not painted - it is natural aluminium.

[big guy]

I had this debate a while ago and was put back in my place very quickly by someone more knowledgeable.

Black radiates the heat away more quickly but does attract more in first place.
White cars attract less light/heat but emit the heat slower.

So its much of a muchness, black feels hot quicker but cools down quicker.

Choice.