Unique Reflections

Not sure where to put this,, here seemed as good as anywheres - LOL

Okay, I've been looking, but not seen much info on the need of reflections.

First, I see a lot of recommendations on painting the inside of a grow in flat white. This puzzles me some. Gloss would be much more reflective I'd think. At least that's what I see on a polished auto versus an old dull clunker.
I'm assuming the more reflective the better the utilization of lumins would be(?).

Another issue,, just how effective is a silver reflective surface (mylar / space blanket) over a simple painted / unpainted surface?
Take a theoretical 400 watt HPS and compare it with mylar vs. a flat white surface.
Would the mylar reflective surface get how much more of the lumens to the leaves / plant? Is it significant enough to justify the grief?

Then we come to shape. Comparing a square box to a round barrel, is there a verifiable plus on using round over square? seems to matter on a light hood, would think the sides equally as much (if not more) important to greater utilize available usefull lumens.

Also, do either the red / blue reflect better than the other? just because we see in a certain way, it's not saying the usefullness of the light is relavant to what our eyes see. Couldbe totally off scale.

I know a lot is asked. But I see near nothing on this site relavant to the importance of reflective materials being justified. I assume it must be,,, but honestly, don't know for sure.

Thank you.

well,

I would suggest u go out and buy a couple of car windscreen reflective visors, draw up size and shape of walls then cut to fit..Most of these sun visors are actually Mylar!
(staple gun works well for attaching) its really easy, simple and provides better insulation than paint on wood..

as well as better or equal reflection

I can answer some of your questions.

When using mylar, the general consensus is that it provides 95% reflectivity. Flat-White is said to give 90%.

The reason gloss or other materials like it(mirror) can not be used is because the gloss is not actually reflecting the light back to you, its distorting it. The light has to travel through the glossiness, drop its intensity in doing so, reflect back off the white, pass through the glossiness again, losing more intensity, and back to the plant

Same with mirrors, A mirror has a glass plate on the front that the light will have 2 pass through twice before coming back to your plants, thusly decreasing intensity.