will a blue, red, or yellow shirt make you the warmest...and why?

Answer 1

I have to chime in to the confusion. The color of a shirt is not a guarantee of efficient spectral transfer. You will feel warmest wearing a shirt that absorbs the most light and converts it to lower frequency infrared (heat). The suns output peaks in the blue part of the spectra, so a shirt that absorbed blue would be more efficient. Hence a 'blue' shirt conceivably reflects the most energy without converting it to heat. Red would reflect closer to the band that is infrared, conceivably keeping you cooler. That leaves yellow as a happy medium. But, that is just speculation, as other properties of the material could come into play.

If your red shirt reflected well into the infrared, that could keep you the warmest, as it would reflect back your own bodies radiation (ala space blanket). If your blue shirt were a particularly dark blue (contained a significant amount of black), it would be superior in its absorption, and warm up well. (in opposition to the previous answer, a blue with very little black reflects much of the light and is not a good absorber of all other colors)

This all presumes environmental conditions, such as sunlight and body heat. As you don't specify the environment, specific scenarios could be constructed for each color. For instance, it is a cold dark night, and the yellow shirt ball is happening at the town hall. You can't get in and warm up in a blue shirt, hence it won't make you warm.

Cheers!

Answer 2

Actually, I hear of another theory to this.

On top of the physical property of the shirt material and the energy it obsorbs, it is your feeling when you see the colour also.

For Eastern theory, each colour will relate to certain part of the body and hence will effects your body in certain ways. Besides, each colour has its own relation to the main elements.

So, blue consider is colder colour than red and red has direct effects to your heart. When you see red in a very hot day, you feel tired, not so much with blue and yellow because the red will make your heart beat a little faster.

Yellow is also more hotter colour than blue. However, it relates to earth and therefore it takes longer to dry, so if you got wet in a yellow shirt in a cold day, you will be more cold.

That leave you with red to choose.

All the above assumes that all three colour shirt are of the same material and thickness.

I know this does not sound too convincing but it is looking at matters from another perspective.

Answer 3

Not sure how much this comes into play in reality but...

Blue light is a higher frequency of light and so carries more energy, a blue shirt reflects blue and absorbs all others.

a red shirt absorbs all visible light but red, red is the least energetic frequency so a red shirt is going to absorb more energy i.e. get warmer.

In answer to the question below...

a) The sun's output peaks in the green part of the spectrum i.e. the middle of the visible spectrum.

b) If a blue shirt reflected light that wasn't blue, the t-shirt wouldn't be blue, would it, it would be blue mixed with the other colours it reflects. The very fact that it is the colour it is means it absorbs all parts of the visible spectrum other than the ones you can see reflected from the t-shirt.

Answer 4

a black shirt will make u the warmest because black pulls in heat. however if u had to choose between blue, red, or yellow, then it's blue (dark) or red (dark). most likely blue though becuase it is darker.

Answer 5

The darker the color of something, the more rays from the sun it'll soak up, so blue.

Answer 6

Black absorbs heat while white reflects it so I would say the BLUE shirt.

Answer 7

darker makes you warmer, like a black car verses a white the temp . is always hotter in the black one.

Answer 8

blu and red because they soak up the sun rays