Hey Ray! How Does Thermal Imaging Work?

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Thermal imaging is a great technology that shows thermal energy as an image. More simply, it changes where there is heat or no heat into a picture.

Thermal imaging is often used to find out the source of cold drafts in your home, or where there are hot spots in structure fires.

Here, I used it to show the warm air coming out of our car's vent. You can see the heat escaping because it is orange.

As the father of a teenager who refuses to wear a coat, I can use thermal imaging to show why you should!

Here is how Elizabeth usually goes outside when it is cold. In just a sweatshirt. You can see the heat, escaping from her in orange, especially the parts not covered up at all.

See how her face and hands glow orange? That is a sign that her body heat is radiating into the cold, winter air. Remember, the flow of heat is always hot to cold.

You can really see this in action when I stick my hand in ice water, then show it to the thermal camera. It looks like I am wearing a glove, but my hand just gave up its heat to the ice water!

Now, as we add layers, you can see there is less heat escaping, and the parts of Elizabeth covered in layers are sort of fading into the rest of the image. That means her thermal energy, or body heat, is not being picked up by the camera as much, so her heat is staying where it should be. Inside the layers.

Keeping the heat trapped near your body is important. When your body can't replace the heat that is lost, you end up with a dangerously low body temperature. That is known as hypothermia!

I decided to go overboard with the layers, by adding an additional hat and completely covering Elizabeth's face with a scarf.

With all these layers, you can see that very little heat is escaping compared to Elizabeth's normal way of going out in the cold, meaning she is staying warm. Remember, the bright spots indicate where heat is escaping. It is important to note that this thermal imaging camera calibrates based on the temperature range observed. This explains why the image of Elizabeth completely covered has a "warmer" looking background. It also highlights how her leggings are offering very little insulation!