Hi,
My wife teaches foreign students alot and she has one from …Iran, Iraq… one of these. The point being that she came home one day telling me that her friend/student told her that it is so hot there that people that roam the desert wear all black because it is cooler…
I’m not calling my wife a liar, but how can this be? I have always known white to reflect light and heat and black to absorb it… What gives?
There’s a staff report on this topic:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mblackcool.html
You’re not the first person to have wondered this: Why do Bedouins wear black robes in the desert?
Unfortunately, you’ll need a subscription to gain access to the full text, but here’s an article describing their research. Basically, it boils down to the fact that while the robe itself gets hotter, the person inside it does not. There tends to be more movement of air under a darker-coloured robe, and the darker color blocks more of the sun’s rays from reaching your skin; these two effects effectively cancel out the extra heat absorbed by the robe itself. Of course, this still doesn’t tell you why black is better, though – only why it’s not worse.
Fascinating. So the best bet would be something with a dark coloration inside and a light color outside?
I still think paisley is cooler than black or white.
Come on. Paisley is about as cool as my 8th grade English teacher Mrs. Beatrix who wore it. Which is not cool at all.