And why and how does it represent heat unlike other wavelengths of light?
In: 0
IR behaves much like visible light. It is a bit more prone to passing through things, though, and is much less able to chemically alter substances. This makes it harder to photograph with.
IR is a pretty big range, and is roughly divided into near-IR and far-IR. Far-IR is more like radio waves, while near-IR is more like visible light.
It represents heat because of something called blackbody radiation. All objects glow, and their glow has a different frequency based on temperature. At all temperatures we normally encounter, up to 500c or so, that glow is mainly in IR. At higher temperatures it becomes visible, but there is still a lot of IR.
Latest Answers