How does the thermal goggles know what is warm and what is cold? And why doesnt the army use thermal over nightvision any day?
In: Engineering
Everything around us emit light based on their temperature. We call that blackbody radiation.
Room temperature objects **do** emit energy in the form of light. But its frequency is low enough that it falls outside the visible spectrum and into infrared (and lower bands of the electromagnetic spectrum).
Heat an object up and, you guessed it, it starts to glow. That’s when the radiation emitted starts dipping into visible light. At first, it’s red hot. Afterwards, it becomes glowy white. That’s when that radiation is so intense it leaves the visible spectrum and turns into ultraviolet light. That’s the stuff the Sun emits, by the way.
Thermal cameras simply allow you to see outside the visible spectrum.. The human body is significantly warmer than any other object or landscape around at any given time, so it’s ideal for spotting people.
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