How does your phone camera make IR waves visible to you when you cannot see that wavelength?

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How does your phone camera make IR waves visible to you when you cannot see that wavelength?

In: Physics

Anonymous 0 Comments

Infrared is just a [frequency of light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum), and we perceive certain frequencies of light as colors. So the camera just “changes the color”, basically as if you applied a filter to change red to yellow in a picture.

Infrared is “below red”, we can’t see it but a camera with an IR sensor can. UV (ultraviolet) is “above violet”, we also can’t see it but cameras can. [Suntan lotion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRD-xvlhGMc) blocks UV but doesn’t block visible light.