POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : Shiny! Server Time
14 Oct 2026 16:55:03 EDT (-0400)
  Shiny! (Message 1 to 19 of 19)  
From: Invisible
Subject: Shiny!
Date: 3 Jun 2008 06:36:23
Message: <48451ea7$1@news.povray.org>
You all know how the song goes:

   I'm a real guy, I like real guy things
   Like boats, and guns, and onion rings,
   But household chores need a power resolution.
   I went to the store and I purchased a solution...
   ...I got a pressure washer.
   I like it a lot
   Cos it makes cleaning DESTRUCTIVE!

Well, last night I went to a shop, and bought... an infrared remote 
thermometer, and an environment meter that measures light, sound and 
heat. Now I can find out the temparature of EVERYTHING!! Muhuhuhu!!!

Actually, the light readings are gibberish, and the temparature readings 
seem rather suspect. The sound readings seem reasonable though.

A number of people have complained about how loud of lab is. So I 
thought I'd find out how loud it *really* is!

Obviously, the first problem is trying to define "loud". According to 
the infallible Wikipedia, there are four standardised frequency responce 
curves commonly used. Apparently the "A" curve was designed for quiet 
sounds and is really rather invalid for loud sounds - and yet, almost 
all legal constructs operate on A-weighted readings. Ho hum! Apparently 
the "C" curve is a much better one to use.

In some unscientific experiments today, I've found that the readings 
from the metal really don't change very much depending on what I 
percieve the loudness to be. (OTOH, dB is a *logarithmic* scale...)

Depending on whether I select A-weighted or C-weighted filtering, I get 
a figure between 60 dB and 85 dB. Various Google searches indicate that 
long-term exposure to levels around 85 dB or higher result in hearing 
damage. (But infuriatingly NONE of the articles say WHICH WEIGHTING 
that's with, so it's kind of meaningless.)

At any rate, you can argue over different frequency response curves to 
use and what is or isn't harmful. But it seems that you can probably 
conclude that the noise levels in our lab are high enough to be of 
concern, even if you can't conclusively say they are or aren't safe.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 3 Jun 2008 08:16:49
Message: <48453631$1@news.povray.org>
> the temparature readings seem rather suspect.

Those IR thermometers work by assuming the object you're pointing at has a 
specific emissivity (which is hard-wired in on cheap models), and also a 
certain temperature of environmental radiation.  Unless you set those two 
accurately for each thing you measure you'll never get an accurate 
temperature reading using IR.


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 3 Jun 2008 08:46:36
Message: <48453d2c$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
>> the temparature readings seem rather suspect.
> 
> Those IR thermometers work by assuming the object you're pointing at has 
> a specific emissivity (which is hard-wired in on cheap models), and also 
> a certain temperature of environmental radiation.  Unless you set those 
> two accurately for each thing you measure you'll never get an accurate 
> temperature reading using IR.

I actually meant the readings from the *other* thermometer is rather 
suspect. The readings from the IR thermometer agree with our validated 
instrument.

(And yes, it's hard-wired to 0.95 thermal emissivity. Apparently it's 
supposed to compensate for air temparature. And it won't work on "shiny" 
surfaces. And also takes a moment or two to go from very hot to very 
cold things...)

The environment meter has a temparature/humidity wand, and it dissagrees 
with our validated thermometer by several degrees above or below. It 
also seems to take a VERY long time for the reading to change.

On the other hand, the metal temparature probe that comes with it seems 
more reliable. I haven't compared it to the validated instrument, but it 
does at least seem to more or less instantly change reading when you 
heat or cool it.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 3 Jun 2008 09:28:13
Message: <484546ed@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:

> Those IR thermometers work by assuming the object you're pointing at has 
> a specific emissivity (which is hard-wired in on cheap models), and also 
> a certain temperature of environmental radiation.  Unless you set those 
> two accurately for each thing you measure you'll never get an accurate 
> temperature reading using IR.

Of course, what I *really* wanted is one of those thermal imaging 
cameras which visually show you how hot things are... but I have no idea 
where the hell you can buy those. :-(

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 3 Jun 2008 09:59:47
Message: <48454e53$1@news.povray.org>
> Of course, what I *really* wanted is one of those thermal imaging 
> cameras which visually show you how hot things are... but I have no idea 
> where the hell you can buy those. :-(

We got ours from these guys:

www.flirthermography.co.uk


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 3 Jun 2008 10:24:55
Message: <48455437$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
>> Of course, what I *really* wanted is one of those thermal imaging 
>> cameras which visually show you how hot things are... but I have no 
>> idea where the hell you can buy those. :-(
> 
> We got ours from these guys:
> 
> www.flirthermography.co.uk

Oooo.... I forsee this becoming a VERY expensive week! :-D

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: somebody
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 3 Jun 2008 14:16:55
Message: <48458a97$1@news.povray.org>
"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
news:48451ea7$1@news.povray.org...

> You all know how the song goes:

Nope.


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From: Invisible
Subject: n00bulation!
Date: 4 Jun 2008 04:59:33
Message: <48465975$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:

> Actually, the light readings are gibberish, and the temparature readings 
> seem rather suspect. The sound readings seem reasonable though.

N00BULATION!!!

The instruction manual fails to mention this, but if you look at the 
light sensor there are two small slits in the side. If you grib these 
and pull, THE LID COMES OFF, revealing a transparent window into the 
light sensor chamer. If you do this, oddly enough the sensor now detects 
light.

What.

The.

Hell.

HOW can the manual completely fail to mention that the top surface of 
the pod is removable? There aren't even any markings on it. You're just 
supposed to *guess* that the two tiny slits in the side are so you can 
grip it to remove the lid.

I spent 10 minutes getting the shop assistent to look at it before one 
of the other staff came over and pointed out that the pod actually has a 
removable lid. Me and the first guy just looked at each other like "Oh 
my GOD, we are really this stupid?"

I LOLd. Hard. Almost as hard as the two chav kids stood next to me.

Frickin' n00bulation FTW! :-S

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: n00bulation!
Date: 4 Jun 2008 11:10:10
Message: <4846b052$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:
> N00BULATION!!!

I have a manual for a clock. In the back is the troubleshooting chart.

Q: No numbers appear on display.
A: Insert fresh battery.

Q: Numbers appear on display even without battery.
A: Take sticker off of display.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."


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From: Doctor John
Subject: Re: n00bulation!
Date: 4 Jun 2008 11:15:01
Message: <4846b175@news.povray.org>
Darren New wrote:
> 
> I have a manual for a clock. In the back is the troubleshooting chart.
> 
> Q: No numbers appear on display.
> A: Insert fresh battery.
> 
> Q: Numbers appear on display even without battery.
> A: Take sticker off of display.
> 
:-)

-- 
I will be brief but not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
world's shortest speech. He said, "I will be so brief I am already
finished," then he sat down.


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: n00bulation!
Date: 4 Jun 2008 13:10:22
Message: <4846cc7e$1@news.povray.org>
Darren New wrote:

> Q: Numbers appear on display even without battery.
> A: Take sticker off of display.

You *know* this question came up in end-user testing! ;-)

[My manual appears to have been machine-translated form some other 
language, judging by the strange sentence constructions...]

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 4 Jun 2008 15:00:57
Message: <4846e669$1@news.povray.org>
In case anybody else out there is as obsessive as me...

http://blog.orphi.me.uk/archives/312

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 4 Jun 2008 15:44:28
Message: <4846f09c$1@news.povray.org>
> In case anybody else out there is as obsessive as me...
> 
> http://blog.orphi.me.uk/archives/312

...or in tabular form...

http://blog.orphi.me.uk/about/temperatures

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 5 Jun 2008 06:12:51
Message: <4847bc23$1@news.povray.org>
>> In case anybody else out there is as obsessive as me...
>>
>> http://blog.orphi.me.uk/archives/312
>
> ...or in tabular form...
>
> http://blog.orphi.me.uk/about/temperatures

Things that look shiny are often shiny to IR too (eg your gloss black oven 
top, car paintwork, etc) - so you're going to be measuring the temperature 
of whatever is being reflected more than the actual thing.


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From: m a r c
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 5 Jun 2008 06:41:41
Message: <4847c2e5@news.povray.org>
"Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de news: 
4846e669$1@news.povray.org...
> In case anybody else out there is as obsessive as me...
>
> http://blog.orphi.me.uk/archives/312
>
Must we understand that you drop your choppen chicken in a COLD frying pan?

Marc


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 5 Jun 2008 07:19:08
Message: <4847cbac@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:

> Things that look shiny are often shiny to IR too (eg your gloss black 
> oven top, car paintwork, etc) - so you're going to be measuring the 
> temperature of whatever is being reflected more than the actual thing.

In the case of the car, that's going to be the sky (surely not that warm 
on a cloudy day?) or the wall (presumably at equillibrium with the 
surroundings). And yet, I got a fairly warm reading.

In the case of the cooker, that ought to be the gas flames. [Now there's 
a question - can an IR thermometer measure the temperature of a flame? 
Or will it measure the next solid object behind it?] Or, alternatively, 
the underside of the flying pan. Either way, the temperature I measured 
seemed pretty low.

If you wanted to be technical, presumably the IR arriving at the sensor 
is the SUM of reflected and emitted? (What the computer calculates the 
temperature at is another matter of course...)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 5 Jun 2008 07:19:34
Message: <4847cbc6$1@news.povray.org>
m_a_r_c wrote:

> Must we understand that you drop your choppen chicken in a COLD frying pan?

For the purposes of Science, you understand. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 5 Jun 2008 07:47:42
Message: <4847d25e$1@news.povray.org>
> In the case of the car, that's going to be the sky (surely not that warm 
> on a cloudy day?) or the wall (presumably at equillibrium with the 
> surroundings). And yet, I got a fairly warm reading.

The objects are not 100% reflecting though, what I meant was your reading is 
going to be lower than you expected because of the reflection.

> In the case of the cooker, that ought to be the gas flames. [Now there's a 
> question - can an IR thermometer measure the temperature of a flame? Or 
> will it measure the next solid object behind it?]

It works the same way as visible light.  Can you see the next solid object 
behind a flame?  It depends how bright the flame is and how bright the 
object is behind.

> If you wanted to be technical, presumably the IR arriving at the sensor is 
> the SUM of reflected and emitted? (What the computer calculates the 
> temperature at is another matter of course...)

The computer assumes the following equation, where e is the emissivity:

sensorReadingIR = emittedIR * e + reflectedIR * (1-e)

Rearranged:

emittedIR = ( sensorReadingIR -  reflectedIR * (1-e) ) / e

It calculates reflectedIR from the "environment temperature" you program in 
to it.  You also tell it e, and of course it knows the sensorReadingIR.  It 
then calculates the temperature of the surface from emittedIR.

As you can imagine, if you program e to be 0.9, but you're actually 
measuring something with a lower e, the computer is going to get the 
calculation wrong and tell you it's at a lower temperature than it actually 
is (assuming the object is hotter than the environment).


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From: m a r c
Subject: Re: Shiny!
Date: 5 Jun 2008 08:19:32
Message: <4847d9d4@news.povray.org>
"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de news: 
4847cbc6$1@news.povray.org...
> m_a_r_c wrote:
>
>> Must we understand that you drop your choppen chicken in a COLD frying 
>> pan?
>
> For the purposes of Science, you understand. ;-)
Oh well You're forgiven, then :-)
You can't expect Maillard's reactions with meat bathing in it's own juice : 
Maillard reactions don't like moisture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction
That's why chiefs get food browned before proceeding to deglazing and obtain 
an excellent 'jus'.

BTW I think you'd get hotter pan cooking 'plateau' temperature by dropping 
the meat in yet hot pan because less water would be boiling at a time.

Marc


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