Recent content by gordo999

I agree that EM from the Sun is related to the thermal energy of the matter in the Sun that emits it, BUT the EM is NOT that thermal energy. Andrew...EM = electromagnetic radiation, which is an electromagnetic field with the magnetic field perpendicular to the electric field. It can propagate...

Andrew...you need to think this through with respect to 'flow' and transfer'. Flow suggests a vector field and transfer suggests moving something from one location to another. Heat does not flow through space but it can be transferred via EM. The heat transfer process is not in any way the same...

I said: The only thing wrong here is a typo. I was doing it late at night. I said, "[Some people claim]...energy, in radiation theory, is IR. It is not". That should have read, "[Some people claim]...energy, in radiation theory, is heat. It is not. The energy in radiation theory is...

Thanks Andrew, I'll look into that.

Thermal energy and heat are the same energy. The notion that heat is only energy transfer is is an incorrect interpretation that has become en vogue recently. Clausius talked about 'heat transfer', not as heat as an energy transfer mechanism. He used Q to represent the amount of heat...

Internal energy of atoms is heat. Agreed, but let's be more specific. According to Clausius, Q is the heat transferred into or out of a body. So the energy to which you refer is thermal energy, which Clausius called heat. Some people today claim that energy, in radiation theory, is IR. It is...

I agree with you there. In fact, 52% of solar energy reaching the Earth is IR. I am talking about what happens after the short wave and long wave EM warms the surface. The surface becomes an IR radiator due to the equilibrium temperature it reached due to solar heating minus the heat lost due...

Andrew...thanks for reply. One point I was trying to make is that infrared energy is not thermal either. The heat it transfers never leaves the body from which it is transferred. The transfer is done through IR being absorbed in the receiving body and raising the kinetic energy of the...

This is about a debate (argument??) I am having on another forum in which people are claiming heat can be transferred from greenhouse gases in a cooler atmosphere to a warmer surface (that allegedly warmed it). The so called back-radiation is presented as a positive feedback which warms the...