An accurate definition of the term "albedo" please?

Question

As it relates to gravity, clearly.

Answer 1

Albedo comes from albino which comes from alba- which means whiteness. Indeed, it is the ratio of light reflected over light falling on it. I must add this means visible light. Snow has a value of 85-90%. Black charcoal has almost 0. Also there is no body with 100 nor 0. Nothing is perfect.

Answer 2

the ratio of light reflected by a planet or satellite to that recieved by it

Answer 3

Example: Venus and the moon have a very high albedo.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/d...

Answer 4

It doesn't.  Albedo is basically how shiny a surface is - I think it's technically the ratio of reflected light to the amount of light shining on the surface.

Answer 5

"albedo" has nothing to do with gravity. It is the reflective index of light/heat of a surface.

A light surface (such as snow) will have a high albedo whilst a dark surface will have a low albedo.

This information is vital to hang gliders (and maybe where you get your "gravity" relation from. Hang gliders know that areas with a low albedo will have rising thermals, giving them lift. Areas with low albedo will let gliders drift downward.

Hope this helps with the "gravity" bit.

Answer 6

>An accurate definition of the term "albedo" please?

Albedo is a value which, for any given surface, describes the fraction of light falling on that surface which is reflected back off. It is different for objects with different types of surfaces. For example, an object with an albedo of 0.5 would reflect half of the light falling on it, whereas an object with an albedo of 0.8 would reflect 80% (four fifths) of the light falling on it. So generally, dark objects have low albedos while light objects have high albedos.

>As it relates to gravity, clearly.

??? Albedo has nothing to do with gravity, it has to do with light (most specifically reflection of light).