Figure 1. A page with some color strips under a table lamp. Click the image to enlarge it to see the details.

We all know black objects absorb more light energy than white ones. What about red, green, blue, and any other colors? With an infrared (IR) camera, this is very easy to figure out.

Print some strips in any color you want on a page, as shown in Figure 1. Put the page under a table lamp and let the light shine on it for 10 seconds. Then aim an IR camera at the paper. Figure 2 shows the results.

Figure 2. An IR image showing the amount of light energy absorbed by the color strips.

Obviously the black strip absorbed the most. But the red, blue, and green ones did not absorb much. Interestingly, the dark gray and purple ones absorbed absorbed more than I would imagine.

I have to admit that I didn’t know how other colors absorb light energy before doing this experiment. With an IR camera, you can easily check it out just on your own like what I did–for any color and any comparison.

If you have heard that Steve Chu, our Energy Secretary, has been serious about painting our roofs with light colors and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has agreed to answer the call in New York City, you may find this little experiment worth your while–you may pick a color that does not absorb a lot of energy yet it will be more colorful than white.