Correct. But it is not that simple. The black absorbs sunshine through the full range of sunshine frequencies that impinge on it, mostly in the visible spectrum, and all this absorbed energy is used to heat the black surface. But while radiation is emitted just as readily from the black surface as it is absorbed, this radiation is restricted to the bandwidth of the black body radiation spectrum for a body at that temperature. The sun has a much wider bandwidth - the car will not radiate at the same rate as it absorbs from the sun until it reaches the same temperature as the sun!Quote:
Originally Posted by Eevo
What confuses the experience is that for most modern cars, heat absorption from the sunshine entering the windows, mostly at low angles to encourage solar heating by designers who live in cold climates, greatly outweighs the effects of body colour - interior colours are more important. This heat is trapped inside by the greenhouse effect - the glass is transparent to visible light, but opaque to infrared. This is less important for Defenders with their relatively small, near vertical glass, and is also reduced on other vehicles with heavily tinted glass, although this is less effective than you might expect seeing the windscreen, which is usually the main culprit, cannot be heavily tinted.
