Aluminum tape for zeroing thermal
- Thread starter Tugmanade
- Start date
How bright does it show up through a thermal?
Target board just needs a slight angle toward the sky, perfect job, all I have ever needed.
If you use aluminium tape for zeroing a thermal then understand that, even when in direct sunlight the aluminium tape will always be colder than it's surroundings so it will show as black when the thermal is in white hot mode and white when the thermal is in black hot mode
It's because the aluminium tape mostly just reflects heat rather than emitting heat
Cheers
Bruce
It's because the aluminium tape mostly just reflects heat rather than emitting heat
Cheers
Bruce
And light being heat, a couple of degrees leaning backwards shows tape up just right, any weather.
Light is generally regarded as electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between 0.4-0.8 microns
Thermal imagers detect long wave infra red electron magnetic radiation with wavelengths between 8-14 microns
Every object in the universe emits heat - the hotter the object the shorter the wavelength of heat emitted - so visible light comes from hotter sources such as the sun and long wave IR comes from cooler sources like animals such as us
However objects at the same temperature can emit different amounts of heat depending their emissivity
Matt black objects are the best emitters of heat and shiny objects are the poorest emitters of heat so when you use aluminium tape on a target board, and although both are at the same temperature, the board emits heat better than the tape so the thermal shows the tape as being colder than the target board
Cheers
Bruce
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