How does the cooling effect of this "white-est paint" work?

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    Cooling Paint Work
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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the cooling effect of a newly developed paint that reflects a significant percentage of solar radiation, specifically focusing on its implications for temperature reduction and potential applications in cooling systems. Participants explore the underlying mechanisms of this paint's performance compared to traditional materials, including mirrors and nanoparticle coatings.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants highlight that the new paint reflects 98.1% of solar radiation, suggesting a cooling effect that could allow for low-power air conditioning, though this raises questions about thermodynamic principles.
  • There is a discussion about the two competing processes of sunlight absorption and thermal radiation, with one participant noting that the paint's high reflectivity may allow for greater thermal radiation compared to the small amount of sunlight absorbed.
  • One participant compares the paint's properties to those of mirrors, noting that while mirrors reflect visible light well, they do not absorb or radiate infrared radiation effectively, which may limit their cooling capabilities.
  • Another participant shares personal experience with nanoparticle coatings on windows that reduce temperature extremes, suggesting a parallel to the paint's claimed properties.
  • There is mention of nanoparticle coatings absorbing near-infrared light, which may play a role in blocking solar flux, although the relevance of far infrared radiation is questioned.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying views on the mechanisms behind the cooling effect of the paint, with some agreeing on the importance of reflectivity and thermal radiation, while others raise questions about the effectiveness of mirrors and the role of nanoparticle coatings. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the implications of these findings and their consistency with thermodynamic principles.

Contextual Notes

Participants note limitations in understanding the specific interactions of the paint with different wavelengths of light and the potential effects of temperature on radiative processes, indicating that further exploration is needed.

jg167
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A new result from Purdue https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rel...-is-here-and-its-the-coolest.-literally..html
Is about the development of a new paint that is the whitest yet, reflecting 98.1% of solar radiation. That is so much that they claim that it causes a cooling effect unseen with previous white paints. This is pretty significant, in the range of 8-19 degrees F. This teases the possibility of very low power (fan only) air-conditioning, which seems like it must be violating basic thermodynamics but hey its Prudue making these claims.

The key seems to be that the reflectivity is so high that the energy absorbed is less than the energy radiated by the painted plate (or any mass above absolute 0) but I might well be misreading that. If that is all it takes wouldn't we expect a very good mirror (99.9%) to do the same thing, and I've never heard of a a mirror being cooler than its surroundings all by itself (but maybe they do?).

Anyway I'd love to hear some elucidation on this.
 
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There are two competing processes: (1) absorption of the directly beamed sunlight and (2) semi-isotropic thermal radiation characteristic of the temperature of the roof surface.
The enhancement of "whiteness" means that more of the visible and near visible light from sun (98.1%) gets reflected . They also claim that this stuff looks "black" at the 10 um (far IR) blackbody roof radiation peak, so the 300K roof is free to radiate into cold (3K) dark space. According to their reckoning this radiation part is bigger than the 1.9% absorption of sunlight. Seems possible to me.
Your point about the mirror is well taken but it will not absorb (and therefore will not radiate) the 10 um infrared.
 
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hutchphd said:
Your point about the mirror is well taken but it will not absorb (and therefore will not radiate) the 10 um infrared.
I am trying to compare / reconcile this with how IR coating on large area window glass reduce incoming IR on sunny days and reduces net loss of IR when it's cold outside. I can confirm that the expensive windows we bought for our conservatory are very effective in reducing extremes of temperature inside. But, of course, the glass is transparent to visible light.

The 'Science' behind my windows is claimed to be Nano Particles. They get everywhere these days, don't they? The self cleaning roof glass is said to use them too.
 
From this (random) article I see that the nanoparticle coating is absorbing the near infrared and so is mostly just blocking (by absorption apparently) incident solar flux ##\lambda>1000nm##.
The radiative processes for a blackbody at 300K peak in the far infrared ##\lambda=10\mu m = 10,000nm## and probably not very important. This was a pretty small effect for the really white stuff too.
 

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