Does white clothing keep you cool?

Answer 1

The thought that white clothing does keep you cool, is actually a fallacy. Yes white clothing does reflect infra-red radiation from the sun, but more influential are the following effects:

1) black clothing absorbs body emitted infrared radiation (in the same way it does from the sun), but then cooling carries this heat energy away from the body by moving air over the clothing (called convective cooling) - note this effect only works if the clothing is loose fitting thus enabling air to move over the clothing surface and resultantly carry the heat away from the body. This will not happen with white clothing as it will not absorb body heat.

2) white clothing reflects body emitted heat radiation back into the body, thus NOT cooling you down as one might think.

It actually come down to this:

- If your clothing is tight, then its better if it is white

- If your clothing is loose fitting then its better if it is back

Sources:

1) I am a thermodynamicist

2) http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mblackcool.html gives a good explanation

If this answer is improved upon then please state references and sources like I have, not state an opinion with no explanation or back up.

Answer 2

* It depends if the red is lighter or darker than the blue. If its darker than the blue, the blue is cooler. If its lighter than the blue than the red is cooler.

* Just remember the lighter the color the cooler it is

* The darker the color the hotter it is

Answer 3

Any light color like white or light blue or pink or yellow also it helps if the clothes are light and beathable

Try to avoid Black Purple darker blues or colors like that