Right. Similar to an issue on Cartalk on NPR recently. The question was if
the color of a car affects its temperature. The answer was basically: not
significantly, but most of all you better get a color you like, because if
you don't like the color you get you will hate the car and be unhappy
driving it.

 Joachim
 Acton, MA
 [mailto:spielmobil@snuttig.net}
 '85 Westfalia 1.9WBX 'Spielmobil'

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of Bill N
> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2003 18:08
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: window tint (LONG)
>
>
> This was a very good discussion of why vehicles get hot.  I do
> have to point out that light
> does not "slow down."  It loses energy, but the speed of light is
> a constant in any given
> medium.  When it loses energy, UV becomes visible light, and
> visible light becomes infrared.
>
> Also, while it is true that after several hours in the sun a
> tinted vehicle will be the same
> temp inside as an untinted one (because the heat lost by
> conductance back to the outside is
> balancing the heat gain from the sun), it is also true that the
> tinted vehicle will take longer
> to reach this balance.  In other words, the inside will get hot
> more slowly.
>
> Bill in the Southwest
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marc Perdue" <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
> >
> > that the light gets converted to heat when it hits objects
> inside the vehicle
> > and gets slowed down.  The glass itself, and the other
> materials that light
> > passes through, also slow the light down and convert it to
> radiant energy
> > somewhat before it even hits anything inside your van.
>
>
>