[Physics] How does a thermal temperature gun work

thermodynamics

I once worked as a kitchen porter over a winter season.
We had fun with thermal temperature guns (like these) which I learned can be used for measuring the temperature of something a reasonable distance away (aside from the obvious use of laser tag), which to my mind is pretty impressive.

How do they work?

Best Answer

They basically measure the intensity of the infrared blackbody radiation in some wavelength region and calculate the temperature needed to give that intensity according to Planck's law.

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