Advertisement
By Harold McGee
Published 2004
As unlikely as it may seem, radiated heat is close kin to radio waves, microwaves, visible light, and X rays. Each of these phenomena is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum, waves of varying energies created by the movement of electrically charged particles, often electrons within atoms. Such movement creates electrical and magnetic fields that radiate, or spread out, as waves. And conversely, when such energetic waves hit other atoms, they cause increased movement in those atoms. One of the first to recognize that heat radiation is related to light was the English oboist and astronomer