News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

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 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.
[ Parent | on HN ]
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.

[ Parent | on HN ]