My grandfather was a carpenter here in Pocahontas, and he always wore a light-colored long sleeved shirt when he worked in the sun. My father, also a carpenter, wore a tee shirt in the sun, and he thought his dad was crazy to work in a long sleeved shirt.
But, as the Arabs in the desert know, research shows that my grandfather was right. Prove it with this experiment: Get 2 clear plastic bags, put an equal amount of water in each and seal them. Put one in full sun. Put the other in the sun beside it, and cover it with a white cloth. With a thermometer, check the temperature of each bag an hour later, and you’ll find the uncovered water will be a lot hotter.
Of course, you want to use a light-colored cover, because it’s reflective of light and heat. Darker colors absorb heat.
Your body is a bag of mostly water. Humans are 60% water. The whiter your skin is, the more transparent it is to the sun. That means if you’re light-skinned, and you’re uncovered in the sun, your body will heat up much like that uncovered plastic bag in the experiment above. To stay cooler in the full sun, you need to cover up as much skin as possible.
Of course, when you’re in the shade, you’ll be cooler by exposing more skin, so moisture on your skin can evaporate and cool you.
