Thermal Imaging
Using heat energy to make usable images from the unseen spectrum. Visible light (AKA visible radiation), can be seen by the human eye while there is a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum on each side that the human eye cannot see…
On the one end of the spectrum lies ultraviolet light and on the other lies infrared radiation which is primarily a heat signature or thermal radiation.
Above 0 Kelvin or -273.15 Celcius (Absolute Zero) any object emits radiation that can be picked up as infrared radiation. In other words, warmer objects emit more infrared radiation. When thermography creates images colours are related to temperatures. The warmest parts of an image are normally brightest coloured, like white, where yellow and red are intermediate temperatures and dark colours, like black, is the coolest.
Thermal cameras allow the user to measure the temperature of an object without physically touching the surface. Other applications of the Flir cameras that are broadly used is in security to see people and vehicles that use the dark to hide themselves; for firefighters to see fire and people through smoke; for technicians to locate joints and parts that are overheating; and for construction technicians to see faulty insulation.
