infrared

• Infrared radiation is emitted by hot surfaces, which is not visible to the human eye
• Lesley's cube is used to investigate how much infrared radiation is emitted or absorbed by different surfaces
• Lesley's cube has four different surfaces: shiny metallic, white, shiny black, and matte black
• When filled with hot water, the matte black surface emits the most infrared radiation, followed by shiny black, white, and shiny metallic surfaces
• To measure the absorbance of infrared by different surfaces, an infrared heater is used with two metal plates painted with shiny metallic and matte black paint
• A drawn pin attached with Vaseline falls off the matte black plate first, indicating that matte black surfaces absorb more infrared than shiny metallic surfaces
• Using an infrared detector is more accurate than using a thermometer painted black to measure infrared radiation
• The resolution of the thermometer may not detect small differences between surfaces, unlike the infrared detector
• Infrared radiation tends to be reflected from shiny metallic surfaces, while matte black surfaces are better at emitting and absorbing infrared