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IR Thermometers & Emissivity

 
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sharksfan7



Joined: 19 Jul 2010
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:55 pm    Post subject: IR Thermometers & Emissivity Reply with quote

I have a question about infrared thermometers and I figured this would be the best place to get the answer I'm looking for. I understand that different materials have different emissivities and that food items have an emissivity around 0.95. But I'm not sure about the math. I'm debating between two different IR thermometers, one has a fixed emissivity of 0.95 and the other, which is labeled as a "Food Safety Thermometer" is fixed @ 0.97. So I'm wondering, if both of these thermometers were to measure the temp of the same item at the same time, what difference in temperature should I expect to see? Is it a matter of degrees or would it be a small fraction of a degree? And if I were to try to take the temperature of something with a much lower emissivity, like a stainless steel pan, how far off would that reading be?
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zelig2



Joined: 19 Jul 2010
Posts: 1
Location: Ohio

PostPosted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The difference at 500 degrees between 0.95 and 0.97 is maybe a degree. If you measure a pan it can be nearly 50 degrees off.
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sharksfan7



Joined: 19 Jul 2010
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the response. Is it safe to assume that at lower temperatures the difference would be even smaller? I'll be using it primarily when working with chocolate and the temperatures would be more around 80-120 degrees F.
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