the.com/reflectance
The fraction of light a surface bounces back instead of swallowing whole.
means The ratio of light reflected by a surface to the total light that hit it, usually expressed as a fraction or percentage.
from Built straightforwardly from 'reflect' (Latin reflectere, 're-' back + 'flectere' to bend) plus the measuring suffix '-ance,' which turns a verb into a quantity — the same pattern as 'resistance' or 'conductance.' It's a 20th-century scientific coinage, born in optics and photometry labs that needed a precise number, not just the general idea of shininess.
- snow vs coal
- 0.9 versus 0.04, same sunlight
- not color
- depends on wavelength, angle, and material
- climate lever
- melting ice lowers earth's reflectance, warms faster
- range
- 0 means pure absorber, 1 means perfect mirror