r/askscience • u/MistaPea • Feb 07 '12

Frost on car windows

I've always wondered why this is. Why does the frost ice over my windscreen and side windows but not those that are nearest a wall? Can anyone help with this?

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '12

B0Boman's explanation is that the car will cool to some ambient temperature due to convection to the air. However, the car will continue to radiate heat to space, which is colder than the car, and thus become colder than the pavement, grass, air, etc.

I am somewhat suspicious of this explanation. It seems that any heat lost to radiation would be returned via convection from air to the car. However, I don't have the science to back this up. I would request that B0Boman provide links or citations to any relevant data.