‘Whitest ever’ paint which can reflect 99% of sunlight

Context

Engineers from Purdue University in the US have created the whitest paint yet.

About the whitest paint

• Component: The whitest paint is made up of barium sulphate, which makes it more white.
• Cooling: Buildings which will be coated with this paint may not require the need for air conditioning.
• the paint can keep surfaces 19 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than their ambient surroundings at nTght
• Electricity saver: The new paint if used to cover a roof area of 1,000 square feet, it may be able to get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts.
• Equivalent: It may be the closest equivalent to the blackest black paint that is called “Vantablack” which is able to absorb up to 99.9 per cent of visible light.

How does the reflection works?

• The light is made up of wavelengths of different colours Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red or VIBGYOR.
• We can see something green because the fabric or material it is made up of is able to absorb all the colours except green. This means that the molecules of the fabric reflect the green coloured wavelengths, which is what the eye sees.
• The colour of any object or thing is determined by the wavelength the molecules are not able to absorb.
• Whichever wavelength of colour is not absorbed by an object that will be the colour which eye sees.
• The absorption and reflection of light depends on how electrons are arranged in an atom (the building block of life, an atom is made up of electrons, protons and neutrons).

What makes the paint so white?

• The paint’s high concentration of a chemical compound which is called barium sulfate makesit whiter.
• Different sized particles of the chemical compound scatter different amounts of light.
• A varying size of particles of the compound makes sure that the paint can scatter more of the light spectrum from the sun.