What determines the reflective qualities of paint colors?

[imported_mirrorfinishman]

What do you think is the primary reason why a freshly detailed dark colored car, such as black, will usually appear to have greater reflective qualities and a greater depth of gloss when compared to a freshly detailed light colored car, such as silver?

[ET Awful]

It has to do with which light frequencies or colors are absorbed vs. which are reflected.



I can`t give an exact definition of how it works (it`s been a while since I read up on it). If I recall properly (which I`m not positive I do), white (or light colors) reflects too broad a spectrum of visible light, so it basically gives too much information for your eye to process. Darker colors absorb more light, but reflect back a range of color that though less than what white reflets, provides more clarity to the human eye.



At least that`s what my memory says, I read up on these things as part of a photograpy project several years ago.

[3Dog]

That kinda falls in line with the old saying that black cars are a lot hotter in summer that white cars.

[ET Awful]

That kinda falls in line with the old saying that black cars are a lot hotter in summer that white cars.



Yup, same principal.

[the other pc]

Two different effects, not entirely unrelated but different nonetheless.



When talking about the visual differences between dark and light finishes the key word is visual. That must include a person looking at it and human perception is a very complex process. I believe the perceived difference is mostly due to our eyes` spectral response combined with out brains` ability to process low contrast image information. Darker (perceived) colors provide higher contrast with respect to the reflected image.



The heating effect is due to a particular material`s tendency to absorb and re-radiate long-wave infra-red (IR) light. Absorbing the IR energy heats up the material.



It`s theoretically possible for a material to appear very light to our eyes while still absorbing IR radiation (which we can`t see) but in the practical world, most materials that absorb IR light also tend to absorb visible light so they usually look dark to us.





PC.

[ET Awful]

By same principal, I mainly meant reflection vs. absorption :)