“Why do dark colours absorb heat?”

Have you ever been told that wearing light colours on a hot day will keep you cooler? Dark colours get hotter than light colours for one big reason: Dark colours absorb more light!

In fact, without light there wouldn’t be any colour at all! When we see colour, it’s because we see light that gets reflected off of something.

Do you have a blue shirt? The reason it looks blue is because when sunshine (or another type of light) hits the shirt, most of the light’s energy is absorbed by the shirt, but the blue energy of light bounces off the shirt. Our eyes can see the energy that bounces off, and to us, the shirt looks blue.

Lighter colours reflect the most light. Darker colours absorb more, but all of that absorbed energy doesn’t just disappear! Energy never just disappears, but it can change. Light that gets absorbed by clothing becomes heat!

Light energy is what makes your warmer, so if you want to cool down, wearing a colour that reflects a lot of light energy is a good choice.