16 APRIL 2021
A new formula for white paint has given us the whitest white yet. It reflects a jaw-dropping 98.1 percent of all light that hits it, remaining significantly cooler than the ambient temperature, even when sitting in full sunlight.
If used to coat buildings, its inventors say, the paint could help in the fight against global warming by reducing our reliance on electrically powered air conditioning, a habit that s worsening the climate crisis. If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet [92.9 square meters], we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts, said mechanical engineer Xiulin Ruan of Purdue University.
Last October, scientists announced the creation of ultra-white paint so reflective it could be used to keep surfaces and even entire buildings cool. That breakthrough really pushed the envelope on new ways to fight global warming. Now, they ve produced an even whiter paint.
The ultra-white paints are considered the opposite of vantablack, which absorbs 99.9 percent of light. They reflect so much light that a surface painted with them actually ends up being cooler than the ambient temperature around them.
The paint revealed in October was based on calcium carbonate (CaCO3), the mineral that makes chalk. It had a reflectance of about 95.5 percent, meaning that less than 5 percent of sunlight hitting it would be absorbed as heat.
Whitest Paint Ever: Paint Could Block the Sun and Cool Earth popularmechanics.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from popularmechanics.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It s floaty floaty vom time as boffins plan prototype cooler spin on modded 727
Richard Speed Fri 16 Apr 2021 // 16:33 UTC Share
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Boffins are set to get a ride on the Zero Gravity Corporation s weightless research lab to test a refrigerator designed for jaunts to orbit, the Moon or even Mars.
The engineers from Purdue University, Air Squared and Whirlpool are working on a refrigerator that will function in different orientations as well as the one more suited to domestic kitchens on Earth. The idea is to give astronauts access to food not necessarily freeze-dried or squirted out of a packet (and liberally dosed with hot sauce.)
Whitest paint that reflects more than 98% of light is developed, too white and painted objects cool down -GIGAZINE archyde.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archyde.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.