ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Infrared and thermal testing

Alright kiddo, have you ever felt your hands get warm when you put them near a fire or a hot stove? That's because the fire and the stove are giving off heat that you can feel. But did you know that there are also things that give off heat that you can't feel with your hands?

That's where infrared comes in. Infrared is a type of light that is too "red" for us to see with our eyes, but we can use special cameras that can detect it. These cameras take pictures of things and show us how hot or cold they are.

And that's where thermal testing comes in. Thermal testing means using these special cameras to see how hot or cold something is. We can use this to see if things are working the way they should be. For example, we can use thermal testing to see if a house has any leaks that are letting out too much hot or cold air. We can also use it to see if a machine is working too hard and might break soon.

So there you have it, infrared and thermal testing help us see how hot or cold things are, even if we can't feel it with our hands.