Radiative imbalance with the sky —drives→ Radiative sky cooling

Conditions

• an emitter with high emissivity in the 8–13 µm window and high solar reflectance
• a clear sky; humidity and cloud close the window

Evidence · 3

1. [1]
   A. P. Raman et al.. Passive radiative cooling below ambient air temperature under direct sunlight (2014)

   Nature 515, 540–544 · doi:10.1038/nature13883 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
2. [2]
   Y. Zhai et al.. Scalable-manufactured randomized glass-polymer hybrid metamaterial for daytime radiative cooling (2017)

   Science 355, 1062–1066 · doi:10.1126/science.aai7899 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
3. [3]
   J.-l. Kou et al.. Daytime radiative cooling using near-black infrared emitters (2017)

   ACS Photonics 4, 626–630 · doi:10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00991 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record

Matrix cells this relation feeds

D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.

Uses of this claim

• Passive daytime radiative coolerdemonstrated · 2 steps
• Night-time radiative-cooling thermoelectric generatordemonstrated · 5 steps

• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermal emission → Light4/4 established · same energy form
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Alkali-metal thermal-to-electric conversion → Ionic current → Electrical work3/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Ionic thermoelectric effect → Ionic current → Electrical work5/5 established · candidate
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Marangoni effect → Mechanical motion → Mechanical work5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermal shape-memory effect → Mechanical motion → Mechanical work5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermochemical redox cycle → Chemical fuel (H₂, CO, syngas) → Chemical fuel5/5 established · candidate
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermopolarization effect → Separated surface charge → Electrical work3/5 established · weakly supported
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermopolarization effect → Separated surface charge → Electrical work3/5 established · weakly supported
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Heat conduction → Heat flow → Useful heat5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermionic emission → Charge carriers → Electrical work5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermogalvanic effect → Ionic current → Electrical work5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle → Ionic current → Electrical work3/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Nernst effect → Charge carriers → Electrical work5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Anomalous Nernst effect → Charge carriers → Electrical work5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Working-fluid expansion (heat-engine cycle) → Mechanical motion → Mechanical work5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Ocean thermal energy conversion → Mechanical motion → Mechanical work3/5 established · candidate
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Advective heat transport → Heat flow → Useful heat5/5 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermo-osmosis → Streaming potential → Ionic current → Electrical work5/6 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermomagnetic convection → Electromagnetic induction → Charge carriers → Electrical work5/6 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Soret effect → Concentration gradient → Chemiosmosis → Chemical fuel6/6 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermal expansion → Mechanical stress or strain → Elastocaloric effect → Cooling5/6 established · candidate
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Thermal expansion → Mechanical stress or strain → Elastocaloric effect → Useful heat5/6 established · candidate
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Marangoni effect → Mechanical motion → Electromagnetic induction → Charge carriers → Electrical work7/7 established · extends a recorded pathway
• Radiative imbalance with the sky → Radiative sky cooling → Temperature gradient → Marangoni effect → Mechanical motion → Rotating-machine generator action → Charge carriers → Electrical work7/7 established · candidate

all 60 routes are in /api/paths.json filtered by claims ∋ claim:sky-drives-radiative-cooling

Cite this claim

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). claim claim:sky-drives-radiative-cooling: Radiative imbalance with the sky —drives→ Radiative sky cooling. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/claim/sky-drives-radiative-cooling

Ids and matrix addresses are stable across revisions; the revision hash identifies the exact canonical files the record was compiled from and is meta.data_hash in every /api export. Reuse terms: see the license field in any export.