Near, medium and far infrared - what's the difference?

Near, medium and far infrared - what's the difference?

The infrared part of the spectrum lies right next door to the red end of the visible light spectrum and comes just before the "microwaves"!

Infrared can be divided into three categories, near, medium and far!

We know that some infrared heaters glow orange/red and these heaters are generating energy from the "near "infrared part of the spectrum. In terms of measurement this is between 0.75 and 1.4 microns closest to the red visible light. Night vision devices would also use this area of infrared.

Short wavelength infrared is measured between 1.4 and 3.0 microns and is used for long distance telecommunications.

Medium infrared and far infrared do not give off any light at all and can be measured 3.0 microns and above. Heating panels generally fall in the 5.6 to 10.0 micron range.

The more dangerous microwaves are measured at over 1,000 microns and are a long way off the range that infrared heaters use.

As always Wikipedia is a great source for this type of information and if interested you can read more HERE and HERE!

Feel the warmth in the sun?

Do you?

The sun provides us with natural infrared warmth. Now that we are well and truly into spring it is surprising how quickly we notice the warmth. 

Infrared as we know is part of the light spectrum and it is the part beyond the red part of the visible spectrum that makes us feel war. From the near infrared that still gives off an orange glow and quite a fierce feeling of warmth, all the way to the far infrared that gives off no visible light and a much gentler feeling of warmth!

As you may know my company "Multiheat" sells infrared panel heaters and these panels give off the far infrared and gives us this nice gentle feeling of warmth! 

Very energy efficient too!