It only took an hour for many of the crayons mounted on a whiteboard to melt in direct early-afternoon sunlight on a 100° day. The darkest-colored wax crayons started liquefying first, while the lightest-colored crayons stayed mostly solid during our weather experiment Monday afternoon.
This is because light colors closer to white reflect heat and solar energy effectively, while darker colors absorb it more readily. This causes darker colored objects to heat up faster.
WATCH: How melted crayons in the sun tell us how we should dress in the heat
How melted crayons in the sun tell us how we should dress in the heat
This same concept applies to our clothing. Dark-colored clothing absorbs more heat and is hotter to wear than lighter colors. We took a thermal gun and measured a white shirt, whose temperature matched the air temperature. Then we measured a black-colored shirt with a scorching 140° reading, which was about 40° hotter than the air temperature…