Having a sadistic moment, I gave the manager of my local fitness center an infrared thermometer to use on the flywheels of the spin bikes. My thought was that the heat generated on the flywheels would give a rough indication of total watts generated during a spin class. No more faking hard efforts. We tried it last week and although the flywheel on the bike I rode was hot enough to jerk your hand away in surprise if you weren't expecting it, the thermometer only registered 88 degrees F. I aimed it at my bare leg and it registered 90, so the temperature calibration can't be too far off. But why wouldn't it read higher on the obviously warmer flywheel? It has a laser pointer, so you know where the temperature is being measured. I don't know if the chrome on the flywheel can somehow reflect a bad reading. Suggestions?
BTW, these little laser guided, non-contact thermometers are a lot of fun. Use one and you'll be walking all around your house, car, etc measuring the temperature of everything in sight.
Having a sadistic moment, I gave the manager of my local fitness center an infrared thermometer to use on the flywheels of the spin bikes. My thought was that the heat generated on the flywheels would give a rough indication of total watts generated during a spin class. No more faking hard efforts. We tried it last week and although the flywheel on the bike I rode was hot enough to jerk your hand away in surprise if you weren't expecting it, the thermometer only registered 88 degrees F. I aimed it at my bare leg and it registered 90, so the temperature calibration can't be too far off. But why wouldn't it read higher on the obviously warmer flywheel? It has a laser pointer, so you know where the temperature is being measured. I don't know if the chrome on the flywheel can somehow reflect a bad reading. Suggestions?
BTW, these little laser guided, non-contact thermometers are a lot of fun. Use one and you'll be walking all around your house, car, etc measuring the temperature of everything in sight.
The emissivity of the metal in the infrared region is less than one. The emissivity of your leg is a lot closer to one so the blackbody temperature in the IR is closer to the physical temperature. The emissivity of water is an important parameter if you are interested in precisely measuring the ocean surface temperature from space. Of course, if you want to do that you probably have no life.
"Carl Sundquist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Having a sadistic moment, I gave the manager of my local fitness center an infrared thermometer to use on the flywheels of the spin bikes. My thought was that the heat generated on the flywheels would give a rough indication of total watts generated during a spin class. No more faking hard efforts. We tried it last week and although the flywheel on the bike I rode was hot enough to jerk your hand away in surprise if you weren't expecting it, the thermometer only registered 88 degrees F. I aimed it at my bare leg and it registered 90, so the temperature calibration can't be too far off. But why wouldn't it read higher on the obviously warmer flywheel? It has a laser pointer, so you know where the temperature is being measured. I don't know if the chrome on the flywheel can somehow reflect a bad reading. Suggestions?
BTW, these little laser guided, non-contact thermometers are a lot of fun. Use one and you'll be walking all around your house, car, etc measuring the temperature of everything in sight.
Having a sadistic moment, I gave the manager of my local fitness center an infrared thermometer to use on the flywheels of the spin bikes. My thought was that the heat generated on the flywheels would give a rough indication of total watts generated during a spin class. No more faking hard efforts. We tried it last week and although the flywheel on the bike I rode was hot enough to jerk your hand away in surprise if you weren't expecting it, the thermometer only registered 88 degrees F. I aimed it at my bare leg and it registered 90, so the temperature calibration can't be too far off. But why wouldn't it read higher on the obviously warmer flywheel? It has a laser pointer, so you know where the temperature is being measured. I don't know if the chrome on the flywheel can somehow reflect a bad reading. Suggestions?
BTW, these little laser guided, non-contact thermometers are a lot of fun. Use one and you'll be walking all around your house, car, etc measuring the temperature of everything in sight.
Put a piece of tape on that flywheel (or anything else organic like paint, etc.) and then point the IR thermometer at it. Most likely the thing is calibrated for an emmissivity (basically how well an object absorbs or emits IR energy as compared to an "ideal"😉 of ~0.9. Like another poster said...shiny metal ain't 0.9.
One more thing to remember...the "temp sensors" in your hand don't really "measure" temperature...they actually measure heat flux, or how fast the energy is being dumped into your skin. Something with a high conductivity and high thermal mass will "feel" a lot hotter than something with the opposite properties at the exact same temperature.
BTW, these little laser guided, non-contact thermometers are a lot of fun. Use one and you'll be walking all around your house, car, etc measuring the temperature of everything in sight.
Can you use it to measure how hot a chick is (If so perhaps heather will volunteer for calibration duties).
"Donald Munro" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Carl Sundquist said:
BTW, these little laser guided, non-contact thermometers are a lot of fun. Use one and you'll be walking all around your house, car, etc measuring the temperature of everything in sight.
Can you use it to measure how hot a chick is (If so perhaps heather will volunteer for calibration duties).
Doubtful, since hottitude is a subjective, not absolute value. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun pointing the laser at her.
"Donald Munro" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Carl Sundquist said:
BTW, these little laser guided, non-contact thermometers are a lot of fun. Use one and you'll be walking all around your house, car, etc measuring the temperature of everything in sight.
Can you use it to measure how hot a chick is (If so perhaps heather will volunteer for calibration duties).
Doubtful, since hottitude is a subjective, not absolute value. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun pointing the laser at her.
It is an absolute value, measured in milliHelens. The exact measuring process is slow and requires counting ships at sea.
