If infrared radiation cannot pass through space, what radiation from the Sun heats up the Earth?
2006-09-14 10:00:37 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It can as it is part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum.
Electromagnetic radiation from space is unable to reach the surface of the Earth except at a very few wavelengths, such as the visible spectrum, radio frequencies, and some ultraviolet wavelengths. Astronomers can get above enough of the Earth's atmosphere to observe at some infrared wavelengths from mountain tops or by flying their telescopes in an aircraft. Experiments can also be taken up to altitudes as high as 35 km by balloons which can operate for months. Rocket flights can take instruments all the way above the Earth's atmosphere for just a few minutes before they fall back to Earth, but a great many important first results in astronomy and astrophysics came from just those few minutes of observations. For long-term observations, however, it is best to have your detector on an orbiting satellite ... and get above it all!
2006-09-14 12:10:04 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Infrared radiation can and does travel through space. But it does not travel well through the Earth's atmosphere. Much of the heating of the Earth comes from visible light being absorbed by the ground, which heats up the ground enough so that the ground emits Infrared radiation which is then prevented from escaping to space by the atmosphere.
2006-09-14 10:26:39 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Whoever said infrared radiation can't travel through space? All wavelengths of the elecromagnetic spectrum can travel through space.
The Sun emits a wide range of radiation, but most of it is in the form of infrared, visible and ultraviolet waves.
2006-09-14 10:06:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Infrared radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which visible light is a part of. So you're exposed to it constantly; our skin protects us from any hazardous effects of normal, "cosmic" radiation, which only becomes a concern when one is either up high in the stratosphere, or outside of its confines entirely. Down on the ground, it isn't really an issue. You should be more worried about nuclear radiation, which is isotopic, and can destabilize molecular structures far more aggressively.
2016-03-27 01:32:21 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Looks like you misunderstand infrared radiation. It DOES move through space. Because of infrared radiation coming to us from the central regions of our galaxy we can observe and study what's going on there.
2006-09-14 10:32:33 · answer #5 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
All frequencies radiation can pass through space. Get your facts straight.
2006-09-14 10:08:52 · answer #6 · answered by shamand001 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
IR radiation, like all other EM radiation, can travel through a vacuum.
2006-09-14 10:26:31 · answer #7 · answered by msi_cord 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yea.
What the other guys said.
2006-09-14 10:08:49 · answer #8 · answered by scary g 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it can
2006-09-14 10:07:35 · answer #9 · answered by Juke Nibi! 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋