💥 Why Were People Told to Paint Their Windows White During the Cold War?
In the UK, one of the strangest pieces of Cold War advice was to paint your windows white. But it actually had a purpose:
✔️ To reflect the thermal flash from a nuclear explosion A nuclear detonation releases an intense burst of heat and light. White paint reflects far more of that heat than clear glass or dark colours.
✔️ To reduce the chance of fire The thermal flash could ignite curtains, furniture, carpets and anything flammable inside a house. Whitewashing the windows helped lower the heat entering the room.
✔️ To limit glass shattering inward While it wouldn’t stop a blast wave, the layer of paint could help hold smaller fragments together and reduce the dangerous scatter of glass.
✔️ A cheap, fast civilian defence measure The government needed solutions that anyone could do within minutes, using common materials. White emulsion was cheap and widely available.
This advice appeared in civil defence guidance long before Protect & Survive and continued into the 1960s–80s as part of “instant home protection.”
IKS Exploration
💥 Why Were People Told to Paint Their Windows White During the Cold War?
In the UK, one of the strangest pieces of Cold War advice was to paint your windows white. But it actually had a purpose:
✔️ To reflect the thermal flash from a nuclear explosion
A nuclear detonation releases an intense burst of heat and light. White paint reflects far more of that heat than clear glass or dark colours.
✔️ To reduce the chance of fire
The thermal flash could ignite curtains, furniture, carpets and anything flammable inside a house. Whitewashing the windows helped lower the heat entering the room.
✔️ To limit glass shattering inward
While it wouldn’t stop a blast wave, the layer of paint could help hold smaller fragments together and reduce the dangerous scatter of glass.
✔️ A cheap, fast civilian defence measure
The government needed solutions that anyone could do within minutes, using common materials. White emulsion was cheap and widely available.
This advice appeared in civil defence guidance long before Protect & Survive and continued into the 1960s–80s as part of “instant home protection.”
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