Thermal Equilibrium: Why Does Car Get Hotter Inside?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the phenomenon of thermal equilibrium in cars, specifically why the interior of a car can become significantly hotter than the outside temperature during sunny days. Participants explore concepts related to heat transfer, the greenhouse effect, and the behavior of materials like glass in relation to thermal energy.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants describe the process of heat transfer, noting that sunlight enters the car and heats surfaces like seats and dashboards, which in turn heat the air inside the car.
  • One participant mentions the greenhouse effect, suggesting that shorter wavelength sunlight is trapped inside the car while longer wavelength infrared radiation cannot escape, leading to increased temperatures.
  • Another participant expresses confusion about why the car continues to heat beyond the outside temperature, indicating a need for further understanding of the mechanisms involved.
  • There is a mention of the adiabatic process and its potential relevance to the situation, although this connection is not fully explored.
  • One participant questions why glass allows heat to be trapped inside, suggesting that this warrants further inquiry.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the underlying mechanisms of why cars heat up more than the outside temperature. Multiple competing views and explanations are presented, and the discussion remains unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express limitations in their current understanding of physics, which may affect their interpretations of the concepts discussed. There are also unresolved questions regarding the specific properties of glass and their role in heat retention.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to individuals exploring concepts of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and the greenhouse effect, particularly in practical applications like automotive design and environmental science.

nmsurobert
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So you take some boiling water and drop a metal cube into it and the cube will reach the temp of the water. Or you leave some hot water out on a desk and the water will eventually become room temperature, right?

Then why, in the summer time, does the inside of the car get way hotter than the temperature outside of it?
 
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One reason to get hotter on sunny day is that the Sunlight of lower wavelength gets trapped in and then due to the fact that now higher wavelength EM Waves cannot go out and hence temperature inside gets higher(greenhouse effect).
 
Oh ok. It must be something beyond my current physics knowledge then because that explanation didn't help much haha not insulting you just saying I'm not at that level.
 
nmsurobert said:
Then why, in the summer time, does the inside of the car get way hotter than the temperature outside of it?

Sunlight shines in through the glass, heating the seats and the dashboard and whatever else it shines on. These then heat the air next to them, and the inside of the car gets warmer. It's no different than running the car's heater to warm up the air in the car - as long as the heater is going, the interior will be warmer than the outside.

The same thing happens to anything you leave out in the sunlight - the sun warms it, then it warms the air it is touching. You just notice it much more with the car because the closed windows keep the air trapped inside the car so the heat can build up.
 
But why doesn't the car stop heating once it's at the same temperature as the outside. That's what I'm hung up on.
I didn't think to compare it to the green house effect. I'll do some reading on it to make sense of it now that I know that.
 
Glass does not allow the inner heat(infrared EM radiation of longer wavelength) to pass and hence internal energy of inside increases.
I think it may also be in conformity with adiabatic process.
Why we are able to survive on the Earth is also due to the effect of greenhouse as the atmosphere keeps heat trapped.
Now if your question is why glass does that, it needs to be enquired.
 

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