ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION AND INFRARED LIGHT
Radiation is all around us. As we all know the universe is not static, but is made up of energy in constant motion, some we can experience with the six senses and some we cannot. Some of this energy is experienced as magnetic, some is electrical and some a mixture of both. Energy travels according to laws that science describes in a fashion that makes sense to them. For us non-science types, there is the ‘crazy’ notion that things can exist even if we cannot see it.
Scientists group different types of radiation together and give them names. Electromagnetic radiation moves about in ‘waves’ in space and carry energy and ‘momentum’. The main idea here is that this radiation affects things around it. This explains light bulbs, radios, TVs, cell phones, microwaves ovens and other such items. Some people worry about things like nuclear radiation, so we know that radiation affects living things, but for the most part, electromagnetic radiation is just a normal part of the universe. Fireflies emit radiation that is visible the human eye. Doctors use X-rays to look at broken bones and the sound from your boom box is part of this universal energy.
This whole range of radiation is called the electromagnetic spectrum. Some of this spectrum cannot be perceived with the eye and infrared rays belong in this range. Infrared could be felt as heat, but cannot be seen. Scientists go so far as to categorize Infrared light even further into Far Infrared, Mid Infrared, and Near Infrared, but for all intents it is all Infrared Light, with the Far Infrared being felt as heat and the near Infrared being used in things like your TV remote control which does not feel hot.
