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A comment on Runway melts at London Luton airport as temperatures in UK near 40°C. Parent comment

Re:Runway melts at London Luton airport as temperatures in U... by Swizec on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @01:33PM (#32155143)
The difference between "not surprised" and "understand why" is vast. For example we (humanity) still don't understand _why_ gravity works despite not being surprised by its existence.

And don't forget the 10,000 rule: https://xkcd.com/1053/

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Re:Runway melts at London Luton airport as temperatures in U... by Sharlin on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @01:43PM (#32155292)
Yes, but GP's quote was not an explanation, it was literally saying that "light objects reflect more light". Albedo literally means "whiteness" ie. how light something is.
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Re:Runway melts at London Luton airport as temperatures in U... by Swizec on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @02:49PM (#32156199)
From GP:

> Traditional asphalt has a low albedo, which means it reflects radiation poorly and instead absorbs it

Seems like a pretty good high level explanation of why that matters. Darker objects absorb energy instead of reflecting it. I'm sure there's more to it than that when you get into details.

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