Question:easy

Albedo is the ratio between

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Albedo compares how much sunlight a surface bounces back to how much sunlight fell on it in the first place.
Updated On: Aug 6, 2026
  • Sensible Heat and Latent Heat
  • Reflected Radiation and Insolation
  • Absolute Humidity and Saturation Point Humidity
  • Indoor Illumination and Outdoor Illumination
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Albedo is a term borrowed from climatology into building science, and this question checks if you know exactly what ratio it stands for.

  1. Sensible Heat and Latent Heat: these two add up to give the total heat content of moist air on a psychrometric chart. They describe heat content, not surface reflectivity, so this pairing is wrong.
  2. Reflected Radiation and Insolation: insolation is the total solar radiation striking a surface. Some of it bounces off as reflected radiation and the rest gets absorbed. Albedo is defined exactly as reflected radiation divided by insolation, so this is the right pairing.
  3. Absolute Humidity and Saturation Point Humidity: dividing these gives relative humidity, a moisture measure with nothing to do with how much light a surface throws back.
  4. Indoor Illumination and Outdoor Illumination: this ratio is the daylight factor used in lighting design, again a different quantity from albedo.

Since albedo by definition equals the fraction of incoming solar radiation a surface sends back, the pair reflected radiation and insolation is the one that fits, so option (B) is correct.

Let's summarize:

  • Albedo equals reflected radiation divided by insolation, a fraction between 0 and 1.
  • Sensible/latent heat gives heat content, absolute/saturation humidity gives relative humidity, and indoor/outdoor illumination gives the daylight factor, none of these is albedo.

So albedo is the ratio between reflected radiation and insolation, option (B).

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