Now that the temperature is heating up, do you find yourself (stare) at a sea of clothes in your cupboard, wondering what to wear? You may have a lot of choices, but which one is the reasonable?
The idea of wearing dark clothes doesn't make sense as heat hungrily goes into the clothes and (cause) you to suffer a lot. But white clothes will lightly return the heat right off, and you'll be more comfortable on a hot day.
it certainly sounds great in theory, there are a few other factors at play that might be working against the old saying about the light clothes. At the very least, there's some (convince) evidence that says it doesn't matter. Let's start with some 1980 academic research from the journal "Nature," titled "Why do Bedouins (贝都因人) wear black robes (长袍) in hot deserts?"
The researchers, you can guess, were as confused as you and I by the fact that in serious heat, the people of the Sinai desert wear black robes instead of white. they found was that the differences were zero when they tested white robes versus black.
They found that the black clothes did collect more heat, but that's it stayed. In other words, the black clothes take additional heat, but that extra is lost by the time it actually gets to your skin. Is there a way more useful for keeping cool, however? The robes are loose to allow air to move.
There's also an argument that the whole "light clothes" argument is missing a key element: the person who's wearing the clothes. This means that the heat your body gives out will actually reflect off white clothing, returning to your body (keep) you comfortably warm. Not a bad theory, but it's not tested on humans.
