A pyrometer, or radiation thermometer, is a type of remote sensing thermometer used to measure the temperature of distant objects. Various forms of pyrometers have historically existed. In the modern usage, it is a device that from a distance determines the temperature of a surface from the amount of the thermal radiation it emits, a process known as pyrometry, a type of radiometry.
The word pyrometer comes from the Greek word for fire, "πῦρ" (pyr), and meter, meaning to measure. The word pyrometer was originally coined to denote a device capable of measuring the temperature of an object by its incandescence, visible light emitted by a body which is at least red-hot.[1] Infrared thermometers, can also measure the temperature of cooler objects, down to room temperature, by detecting their infrared radiation flux. Modern pyrometers are available for a wide range of wavelengths and are generally called radiation thermometers.[2]
- ^ "incandescence". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Coates, P.; Lowe, D. (2016). The Fundamentals of Radiation Thermometers. CRC Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4987-7822-0.
Historically the term 'pyrometer' has been widely used. At the present time the term 'radiation thermometer' is more generally favoured.