How does color effect heat absorption in fabric?

[griffinblum96]

Please help me. If you can just reply to me telling me that you are interested, I'll give you some questions. I need to have this done on Thursday, January 6, 2011, so help me.

[deleted-71417]

Hi,

Welcome to the Ask and Expert forum. Here is a Science Buddies project on your question:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p030.shtml

After you have read it and looked at the references linked to the Bibliography section you still have questions please post again on this same thread and we will try to help.

Best regards,


Barrett L Tomlinson

[griffinblum96]

My project is on how light from a light will be absorbed by colored strips of cotton shirt. I will be using white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and black strips, and I will be using a control with no strip at all. I would just like someone to answer these 5 questions.
1. What's the difference between natural light and light from a light bulb?
2. How can light be different colors?
3. Is the absorption of light determined by the color of the fabric, or the fabric itself?
4. Why do some different colors absorb different amounts of light?
5. Are colors in general just interpretations of light?
I would like these questions to be answered by Thursday, January 6. Thanks.

[deleted-71417]

Hi,

Have you read the project writeup linked in the first answer??? If you have read it and did not understand its explanations that are intended to answer exactly the questions you asked, please tell us what you found confusing. ScienceBuddies spent a lot of time and money writing those explanations and if they are not clear enough we need to know how to improve them.

1. What's the difference between natural light and light from a light bulb?
Graphs of the light intensity vs. wavelength for the sun (natural light) and an incandescent light bulb are shown in the introduction to the project linked in the first answer. The biggest difference is something called the color temperature (the sun is hotter than the light bulb, so the sun light has relatively more blue light intensity than the light bulb light).

2. How can light be different colors?
The color of light is related to the wavelenght of the light (blue is shorter than red). See the diagram in the introduction to the above referenced project.

3. Is the absorption of light determined by the color of the fabric, or the fabric itself?
The color of the fabric is determined by the wavelengths of light reflected (and not absorbed) by the fabric. This means the color is determined by the wavelengths in the ambient light that the fabric does not absorb.

4. Why do some different colors absorb different amounts of light?
Most of this is determined by the molecular structure of the dye used to color the fabric.
Different dyes absorb different amounts of various wavelengths of light.

5. Are colors in general just interpretations of light?
Colors are determined by what your eye sees. Your eye has (hopefully) four different types of receptors (blue, yellow or green, red, and white(for seeing in dim light). Your brain determines color by sensing the proportional response of each color receptor type. Some people are missing one or more types of color receptors, making them “color blind” and unable to distinguish between two colors (like red & green).

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Barrett L Tomlinson