Can anybody explain why White is hotter than Red?

Question

I can't find a decent explanation in my tiny little mind

Answer 1

Hmmm?

Quick and dirty

White light is a sum of all light frequencies ranging from infrared, red… violet and ultraviolet where red is of lower frequency then violet.

Also hotter means more energy.

E=hf

E- energy
h - Plank’s constant
f – frequency.

Now it should make sense that white is hotter than red.

Now check out the site below on color temperature.

Answer 2

"Temperature" is not related to the color of a room temperature object. In other words,
the color of an object like a piece of red paper or a blue shirt is not related to its temperature. Colors of electromagnetic radiation in the visible part of the spectrum do represent different energies, but not different temperatures.The colors of the visible light spectrum do not have temperatures. Blue light is harder to make than red light. It takes more energy.

When something is heated enough, it can glow. At first, the color is red. As the temperature goes up, the color goes from red to yellow, and then to white. This is why "white hot" is much hotter than "red hot". If made hot enough, it will have enough energy to glow blue. The hottest visible flames are violet.

Answer 3

I assume that you mean when you look at a metal object that is incandescing.

The frequency of light is tied to the temperature. There is a formula that gives the frequency of the light emitted by a 'black body' at a given temperature. The higher the temp of the object, the faster it needs to give off radiant energy. One way to dump energy faster is to emit higher energy photons.

So, if a metal is glowing white hot instead of red hot, it is at a much higher temperature and is dumping photons from a broader spectrum and with photons from the higher energy portion of the spectrum.

Answer 4

It has to do with the thermal radiation emitted by the object. Look op thermal radiation and wavelengths...

Answer 5

Don't sweat it. If anybody questions it tell 'em I said so.