Re: Which color absorbs the most heat red, yellow, blue, silver, black or whire

Hi Alex,

It depends what you mean by heat.  Heat, or infra-red radiation, is a form 
of Electromagnetic Radiation, and is very similar to the visible light you 
can see, but with a longer wavelength.  If you could see infra-red it 
would be beyond the red side of a rainbow.

Different coloured objects absorb and reflect different coloured light, 
that is why they are the colour they are, but they can also absorb or 
reflect different amounts of light.  A bright white or silver object will 
reflect a lot of light, that is why it is bright.  If it is reflecting a 
lot, then it cannot be absorbing much.  A very dark, black object doesn't 
reflect much light at all, it absorbs it all.

It is much the same for heat.  Black things absorb much more heat than 
lighter colours, which will reflect it more easily.

I hope this is off some help.


Sarah