Infrared waves

Who discovered infrared waves?

Sir Frederick William Herschel (1738-1822) was born in Hanover, Germany and became well known as a musician and as an
astronomer. He moved to England in 1757 and, with his sister Caroline, constructed telescopes to survey the night sky. Their
work resulted in several catalogs of double stars and nebulae. Herschel is famous for his discovery of the planet Uranus in
1781, the first new planet found since antiquity.

In 1800, William Herschel conducted an experiment measuring the difference in temperature between the colors in the
visible spectrum. He placed thermometers within each color of the visible spectrum. The results showed an increase in
temperature from blue to red. When he noticed an even warmer temperature measurement just beyond the red end of the
visible spectrum, Herschel had discovered infrared light!

William Herschel

What is Infrared waves?

Infrared radiation is a type of electromagnetic radiation, as are radio waves, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and microwaves.
Infrared (IR) light is the part of the EM spectrum that people encounter most in everyday life, although much of it goes
unnoticed. It is invisible to human eyes, but people can feel it as heat.

Devices that detect infrared

All objects on Earth emit IR radiation, or heat, which can be detected by electronic sensors, such as those used
in night-vision goggles and infrared cameras. A simple example of such a sensor is the bolometer, which consists of
a telescope with a temperature-sensitive resistor, or thermistor, at its focal point. If a warm body comes into this
instrument's field of view, the heat causes a detectable change in the voltage across the thermistor. Night-vision
cameras use a more sophisticated version of a bolometer. These cameras typically contain charge-coupled-device
(CCD) imaging chips that are sensitive to IR light. The image formed by the CCD can then be reproduced in visible
light. These systems can be made small enough to be used in hand-held devices or wearable night-vision goggles.
They can also be used for gun sights with or without the addition of an IR laser for targeting.
1.Communications:
Some of these wavelengths are used in optical communication to carry the information from one place to another. It
is also used in remote control, mobile phone, laptop, PDA’s, etc. to have a channel for short range communication,
like between the mobile and laptop or between TV and remote control.

2.Thermal imaging:
Thermal imaging or thermography is used to determine the temperature of an object remotely. This is used mostly
in industries and military operations.

3.Night vision:
The night vision, which is seeing in night (or dark black) without the use of external light, is a device which uses
the ambient light of the atmosphere. It amplifies the ambient light and helps to see things in dark without the use of
light to illuminate the area of interest.

4.Missile Tracking:
It is used in missile technology to follow its target, since everything emit infrared rays so the missile seeks the
infrared and hit the target based on the heat emitted by it. these types of missile are known as “heat seekers”.

5.Heating:
Infrared are increasing the popularity as the rays used in cooking for heating. The infrared can heat the opaque
objects instead of the air around them. These are also used in industries for wielding, drying, etc.

6. There are other uses of the infrared in the field of astronomy, meterology, Spectroscopy, History, Biological
systems.