• Question: Why does black attract the heat ?

    Asked by mattc003 to Cathal, Daphne, Darren, Jon, Katherine on 12 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Katherine Haxton

      Katherine Haxton answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      Black absorbs heat where as white can reflect it. Black things absorb every wavelength of visible light that falls onto it which is why it appears black and not a colour. This absorption causes the black thing to become hot. White things reflect every wavelength of light.

    • Photo: Jon Benton

      Jon Benton answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      To add to Katherine’s answer, the light we get from the sunlight is a form of radiation (or energy in simple terms) so as the black absorbs the light it is absorbing the energy from the sun and the only way it can get rid of it is to emit it as heat.

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