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Q:
In the summer in southern AZ, temps get in the low 100’s often. Inside parked cars, the temps can exceed 150 degrees F!
Do you know of a good material that can keep the seat buckles cool enough to touch without itself
becoming too hot to touch?
- Tony
Tucson, AZ (USA)
A:
Tony -
Usually once a car sits in the sun for a while, the entire car
heats up, including the air and everything in contact with it. You can
reduce this effect a bit by having a light-colored car and by using a
windshield reflector, to reduce the amount of light absorbed.
A basic law of physics says that any objects in contact with each
other tend to reach the same temperature, so making the buckles out of
another material won't make them cooler. However, how hot or cold
something feels depends very much on how easily it conducts heat into
or out of your skin, and metals are good heat conductors. If you keep
some cloths in the car with which to cover the buckles, you can avoid
having to touch the hot metal. The cloth will be just as hot, but it
won't feel bad to touch.
-Tamara and Mike W.
(published on 10/22/2007)
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