Best exterior color during heat waves

I would guess that there's a little more scientific reasoning behind the answer to this question then... touch it and feel.

Here's a little something I found in a discussion of radiator colors:

"In a hot climate, the best color to paint a roof so that it stays cool is white. The white color does not absorb much visible light from the sun, but the white color is also good at emitting heat when it gets hot.

In the ultraviolet light range, some metals are transparent, and in the infrared, some semimetals are transparent. Plastics and many types of glass are essentially "black" in the ultraviolet.

Silver paints are a special case. These pigments contain metal particles which have peculiar optical properties. They usually are poor absorbers or emitters of radiation, either optical or heat. So do not use silver paint on a radiator."

The rest of this can be found here:

Now from that bit of information it still sounds like white could be the better color. Although silver is poor at absorbing radiation, there will be some radiation entering the car through the windows. Silver is also poor at emitting radiation, thus what gets in may also stay in better than in a white car. This wouldn't be a big deal if the AC is on, but what about the two cars being left in a sunny parking lot for several hours? Although the silver car may be colder to the touch on the exterior, it may be warmer on the insider due to the poor ability to radiate the heat that gets in through the windows.

Maybe it's something to send off to the Mythbusters to find out...

Steve

72 Skylark Custom455

"Grumbler" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

It depends on time. Years back the local newspaper parked two cars in the sun on a 110+ day here in sunny Phoenix, AZ. Both had all the windows closed. One car was black, one was white and they were both equipped with means to measure the interior temperature.

The two cars reached exactly the same interior temperature but the black car got there hours sooner.

So.... if you're going to park outside all day, it makes absolutely no difference, if you're parking for an hour or so it makes a big difference.