Question

When watching a daytime circus in a large, dark-coloured tent, you sense significant heat transfer from the tent. Explain why this occurs.

Short answer

During the day, the sun's radiation will heat the tent, and you will receive heat from the tent via convection.

Step-by-step solution

Explain how the tent attains heat.

During the daytime, sunlight emits light energy. This energy is absorbed by the tent. Since it has a dark color, it will absorb light from most of the wavelengths, while the light colors cannot absorb light from all wavelengths and will emit light. This light energy absorbed by the tent is transferred into heat energy and the tent becomes hot.

Explain how you will sense heat while sitting under the tent.

The tent gets hot from the sunlight through radiation. The heat from the tent is transferred through the air. This process is called convection. So, through convection, heat will reach you and you will experience heat.

Thus, you will experience heat while sitting under a dark-colored tent through radiation and convection.