APFIVE A student investigating the concept of albedo and its effect on Earth’s temperature set up an experiment with two identical boxes, one painted white and the other black. Both boxes were filled with water and placed outside in direct sunlight. The student predicted that the water in the white box would heat up more slowly than the water in the black box due to the higher albedo of the white paint. However, the temperatures of the water in both boxes increased at the same rate. What was the conceptual mistake in the student’s experimental design?
The student used the same type of paint for both boxes, which had a similar thermal conductivity, nullifying the effect of color.
The student did not account for the fact that the water’s absorption of sunlight, not the color of the boxes, is the primary factor determining the water temperature increase.
The experiment was conducted for too short a period to observe the differential heating effect caused by the varying albedos.
The boxes were not insulated, allowing heat from the environment to affect the temperature of the water equally in both boxes.
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