Reading about solar heat collectors I was asking myself, what's the absorption spectrum of black paint. Usually these collectors are painted in black, because black, as we all know, does absorb visible light.
As one can see in this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_Spectrum.png
there is a lot of energy in the infrared spectrum too. Is this also being absorbed by black paint? I know that in practice the collector is often behind a plastic a glass cover, so infrared wouldn't probably pass anyway, but I want to know if there is any information on the absorption spectrum of a black object. (because I couldn't find any)
Thanks
As one can see in this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_Spectrum.png
there is a lot of energy in the infrared spectrum too. Is this also being absorbed by black paint? I know that in practice the collector is often behind a plastic a glass cover, so infrared wouldn't probably pass anyway, but I want to know if there is any information on the absorption spectrum of a black object. (because I couldn't find any)
Thanks