All Questions
7 questions
2
votes
2
answers
2k
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Why does UV light feel warm on my skin? Whereas infrared light heats up space around me plus my skin?
Noticed something weird today.
I have an infrared space heater that is pretty good at heating up my desk at work (as well as my skin obviously).
I also have a UV flashlight. I noticed the UV ...
- 35
8
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Why do dark objects absorb visible light but only emit infrared radiation?
What is it about the molecular structure of dark coloured objects that means they absorb most of the visible light that falls on them, but radiate infrared?
Naively I would think that if a molecule ...
- 523
0
votes
1
answer
99
views
Specular Reflection of IR Light
I have started to use thermal imaging cameras more and more and realized that I can see the reflection of my self bouncing off of a glass window through the IR camera. When viewing it on my monitor, I ...
0
votes
0
answers
128
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Why can visible light go through green-house gases? [duplicate]
I understand that visible light can (largely) go through greenhouse gases, but infrared radiation can get reflected back... why can visible light go through green-house gases?
Does it have to do ...
- 127
2
votes
1
answer
5k
views
How does sunlight feel hot through glass?
My confusion is this. I can shine a flashlight through a window at someone, and they don't feel any heat. Yet, sunlight shines through a window, we feel the heat. I want the scientific explanation of ...
- 21
58
votes
6
answers
45k
views
Why do we feel heat from infrared light but not from shorter wavelengths?
My guess would be that light with a higher energy such as visible or UV would feel hotter, but this is not the case!
Is this something to do with human senses or is there a physics explanation?
- 2,030
3
votes
1
answer
304
views
Commercial Infrared lights
I purchased an infrared light. It's a 100 W Philips infrared lightbulb. Says it's infrared, but I haven't done any spectrum analysis so I don't know for sure if it's just red or really infrared.
As I ...
- 455