|
Photons....all of various wavelengths and frequencies, but mainly in the infrared part of the EM spectrum, is what carries the "heat" we feel from the Sun. Your body has millions of specialised nerve receptors in the very outer layer of your skin which detects the incoming IR photons and relays their latent quatity as a nerve impulse to your brain. In essence, they act very much like primitive eyes. They "see" the radiation. The more that strike your skin at whatever wavelength/frequency they radiate at, the hotter/colder you feel. Your conscious mind then puts a subjective, qualitative value to that initial feeling.
Heat is a latent quantity of energy, temperature is the qualitative measurement of the latent quantity of heat. In other words, it's "value added" to that latent quantity.
|