Eli5 Why does metal give off light when heated?
In: Chemistry
All materials do this. As atoms bounce around off of each other, their electrons vibrate. Electrons vibrating, or at least getting flung around, is the primary source of electromagnetic radiation. Like a radio antenna, but much smaller.
Metals actually don’t do it nearly as effectively as darker materials, like ceramics or carbon.
Human bodies glow like this, but in infrared light. As objects get hotter, the glow becomes bluer and bluer, from far-IR to near-IR to red to white to blue, hotter and hotter.
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