Why didn't Herschel discover ultraviolet heat with a thermometer like infrared?

  • Level: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter revv
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Electromagnetism
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
2 replies · 1K views
revv
Messages
55
Reaction score
9
I was researching about the discovery of electromagnetism and how Johann Ritter (Discoverer of ultraviolet light) used silver chloride to discover the heat of ultraviolet light but why couldn't Sir william Herschel discover it with just a thermometer like infrared light?
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
The sun emits much more infrared than ultraviolet. In addition, UV does not pass through most glasses, probably including the prisms used to separate infrared from visible light.
 
The turning black of silver chloride by light is due to the absorption of UV light by the molecule with its subsequent dissociation into Silver and Chlorine. Heat played no part in Ritter's discovery.