Infrared Waves

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Infrared Waves

• Milena and Audrey

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Infrared waves are in between microwaves and
visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum.
They have a frequency between 3x1011 Hz and
4.3x1014 Hz. Their range of wavelength is
between 7.3x10-7 m and .001 m.
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How are infrared waves
used?
Ever seen and infrared map on the
weather? Weather satellites use infrared imaging
systems to map cloud patterns and warm/cold
fronts so that they can predict the weather.
Astronomers use infrared telescopes to dust
bands, stars, and entire galaxies that are unable
to be seen with visible light. Where a formation
is obscured by dust (blocking visible light),
infrared waves can still pass through and be
seen by the telescope.
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How are infrared waves
used?
In restaurants, infrared lights are used to
keep food warm while it waits to be served.
Infrared lamps are also used as heaters at
places such as sidewalk cafes, where a
traditional heating system would be impractical.
Thermographs are infrared pictures that doctors
use to see the human body. The infrared waves can
show the heat distribution throughout the body,
which can show where there are areas of high or
low blood flow.
Infrared radiation is extremely useful to the
military, who use it to see in the dark, by
using the infrared waves to create a heat map
that shows where warm areas such as human
bodies are in a colder background.
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Who can
see it?
Humans cant see infrared light. However, humans
are continuously emitting infrared radiation!
Some animals, such as the pit viper, can see
infrared light, and use it to hunt in the dark.
Machines can see infrared light by measuring
the amount of radiation from different parts of
an object and displaying it as a heat map.
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Is it
Dangerous?
No!
the only danger that can come from infrared
radiation is simple overheating.
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How was it
discovered?
In 1800, the German astronomer William Herschel
used a prism to split white light into the
visible light spectrum (a rainbow).
He then passed a thermometer through the
spectrum, from violet to red, to measure the
temperature change in the colors. Then he passed
it past the red end of the spectrum, where he
measured the greatest increase in temperature.
He concluded that there must be an invisible type
of radiation past the red end of the spectrum
infrared!
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Interesting Facts
The longer wavelengths of infrared radiation are
what contribute to the greenhouse effect. Visible
light waves pass through the layer of atmosphere
of the earth, heating it up. Some of the waves
are reflected back, but long wavelength infrared
waves cant pass back through, and so stay
beneath the atmosphere, heating up the Earth.
The longer wavelengths of infrared light also are
much hotter than the shorter wavelengths. Long
wavelengths are forms of heat such as fire and
sunlight, while the shorter wavelengths are used
in everyday life.
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Interesting Facts
Anything whose temperature is above absolute zero
0 K radiates in the infrared. That means
everything in the world radiates some measure of
infrared radiation!
When something is red hot, its giving off so
much infrared radiation that the object glows red
(in the visible spectrum).
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