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I found out black heats up the most and white the least, as I expected. The question I had is that despite black reflecting all the wavelengths of the visible spectrum, and hence giving the black material its colour, why is it not the coolest?

I mean, even blue. It's reflecting the higher frequencies, which are at a higher energy acc. to E=h*f (f is frequency), why does it get heated more than red?

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  • $\begingroup$ it is white that reflects all colors $\endgroup$
    – anna v
    Commented Jan 26, 2014 at 19:56

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Black absorbs all the light and hence it is black. You got it wrong as it does not reflect the light of all wavelengths. It absorbs all and that gives it the black color. In short where there is no light, the area is black.

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