Effect of Color

[Herk_Man]

I've been doing an independant study on the effects of various colors of wet suits on their buoyancy and have made some fairly unusual discoveries. While fashionable, it appears that the brighter colors somehow seem to have as much as a 20% increase in buoyancy over suits of the same size but in all black.

Can anyone attempt to explain this? After cutting out samples of each color and examining them closely under magnification, I can't really discern a huge difference. Is it possible that the pigment is somehow reducing the effects of compression on the bubbles in the material???

 

[diver 85]

interesting, will keep up with the respnses.....

 

[Protist]

Have you been able to re-perform your experiment producing the same results? Whats your sample size?
But maybe its as simple as weight? Since black is all color, not absence of; It could weigh more(in the lines of applying ink), causing the reduction of the 20% in buoyancy?

 

[Herk_Man]

Yes, that is what is so interesting about the study. I've done the test on several sizes of suits and have gone through an exhaustive process of weighing and measuring each sample to ensure that I'm comparing apples to apples. Each test has a control sample. We also record water temperature, pH, salinity, etc. during each test period and graph any changes in temperature during descent.

The sample size is 10 of each color and the results continuously produce a buoyancy difference of between 18.5 and 21%.

What is also interesting is that there is a negligible difference between non-black colors. The only difference is between colors and black. Which has my hypothesis pointing me in the direction of blaming the pigment for changing the compressibility.

 

[Protist]

That is very interesting...Would you happen to have a copy of your experiment? I would really love to see it.
But if that is your hypothesis, then its time to test...again. One potential suggestion would be then the measure how much each color compresses under pressure.

 

[Herk_Man]

Sure, would love to share. PM me your email address and I'll send along what I have. Most of it is available in xcel format so easy to forward.

What might you attribute the difference to if not the pigment and compressibility??? I just don't see the color itself actually changing the density of the material.

 

[Protist]

As of this point i may have to agree with you on the theory of pigment and compression.(at least until i get the chance to go over your experiment)
You stated that "I just don't see the color itself actually changing the density of the material."
But it may not just be color. Reflection of light is what we perceive as color. Perhaps its the dyes that are used to create the color that effect density. Different molecular substances have different properties, chemically and physically. I dont have a background in the molecular formulas for dyes. But this could effect it.
So for now, i believe this is my stand.

 

[Walter]

Interesting study. Did you get the same results yesterday and do you expect the same results tomorrow?

 

[Monkey_Gland]

I've been doing an independant study on the effects of various colors of wet suits on their buoyancy and have made some fairly unusual discoveries. While fashionable, it appears that the brighter colors somehow seem to have as much as a 20% increase in buoyancy over suits of the same size but in all black.

Can anyone attempt to explain this? After cutting out samples of each color and examining them closely under magnification, I can't really discern a huge difference. Is it possible that the pigment is somehow reducing the effects of compression on the bubbles in the material???

Perhaps it's something to do with the date the experiment was conducted on? April 1st, perhaps?

 

[Guba]

I may well be showing my ignorance of how wetsuits are made and finished, but my experience with science is much more rounded, so here goes.

I'm making an assumption that in making neoprene, there is a "raw" or unpigmented material and that colors are added as a surfacing layer. In other words, the wetsuits I've seen were all dark underneath the surface when the "skin" was scratched or cut. Even black wetsuits (or at least the black portions of my suits) seem to have a skin of black pigmented material bonded to the duller dark neoprene underneath.

IF this is the case, would you have a sample of the "raw" neoprene material that has neither the dark "skin" nor one made of colored material? If so, this may provide an insight about the actual control material.

If that's not how you see your materials, then ignore all of this, of course.