ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light
Click on image for full size Daedalus Enterprises, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI
This is a plant in Gary, Indiana where power is made. We use power to
run things like television sets, radios, lights, and microwave ovens.
The picture looks very strange
because it was taken in infrared. It shows the heat given off by the plant. The
warmest spots in the picture are white, red, and yellow in color. The coolest
spots are black, pink and dark blue.
The white pencil-like objects in the picture
are smoke stacks. The white rectangular object next to the building with smoke
stacks is a large, very hot oven called a kiln. The largest white object in the
picture is a cooling pond for the factory.
Energy is being wasted at all of these
places. Now the people in the plant can try to think of ways to save the energy
being lost in these white regions and make the power plant work better.
Even though the sleeping man is no longer on the bed, you can still see where he was lying down. The heat from his body warmed up the bed sheets which are now radiating infrared light toward your eyes....more
All warm objects (not just people) radiate in the infrared. Warmer objects give off more infrared radiation. Very hot objects radiate other types of light in addition to infrared. Click on the picture...more
Your eye is a wonderful detector of visible light. Different frequencies of light produce different sensations in the eye which we interpret as colors. Our eyes detect light by using light sensitive components...more
Imagine you found a pair of special glasses that not only gave you telescopic vision but gave you the ability to see all forms of radiant energy. The universe in visible light contains all the familiar...more
This is a volcano on the island of Miyake in Japan. It has erupted, sending hot lava and ash into the air, a total of ten times. The time after one eruption until the next occurred was about twenty years...more
This is a picture of a galaxy in visible light. A galaxy is a large number of stars, some like our sun, some bigger, some smaller and all moving together through space. This galaxy is called Centaurus...more
This is a plant in Gary, Indiana where power is made. We use power to run things like television sets, radios, lights, and microwave ovens. The picture looks very strange because it was taken in infrared....more