Q62 of 141 Page 14

Explain why a solar cooker box is painted black from the inside?

A black coloured surface absorbs much more heat when compared to a white coloured surface. Hence in the designing of solar heating devices, black painted surfaces are used so that they may absorb the maximum amount of heat from the sunlight or sunshine. In a box-type solar cooker, the inner walls and the bottom of the cooker are painted black to maximize absorption of heat and to minimize heat loss due to reflection. A metal sheet, which is painted black, can be considered as the simplest solar heating device because on keeping in sunshine, it absorbs a lot of sunrays and becomes quite hot. However, after becoming hot, a black surface itself starts radiating the absorbed heat. So, after some time its temperature starts decreasing and tends to become equal to the temperature of its surroundings.

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