Question: What does the heat of sunlight represent?
– Lisa
Reply Simply energy. Sunlight is what physicists call “electromagnetic waves”, meaning electrical and magnetic energy that travels through space like waves on the surface of water.
There is a very simple comparison that allows us to understand concretely what it is. When you sit on the edge of a campfire you get hot, right? Well, this heat is made of the same thing as sunlight: electromagnetic waves. Some of these waves are visible to our eyes (“visible light”), some are not (infrared rays, for example), but we can feel this energy when our skin warms up.
The same applies to the sun, with the difference that it is hotter than a campfire to the point that its visible light is not the same color; It is white while the campfire is somewhat orange.
To be honest, the sun is so hot that part of its electromagnetic waves – ultraviolet rays – are dangerous to skin, as they cause the famous “sunburn”. The edge of a fire does not risk getting sunburned!
