140. How Heat and Light Differ. If heat and light are alike due to
the regular, rapid motion of the particles of a body, and are
similarly conveyed by waves, how is it, then, that heat and light are
apparently so different?
Light and heat differ as much as the short, choppy waves of the ocean
and the slow, long swell of the ocean, but not more so. The sailor
handles his boat in one way in a choppy sea and in a different way in
a rolling sea, for he knows that these two kinds of waves act
dissimilarly. The long, slow swell of the ocean would correspond with
the longer, slower waves which travel out from the sun, and which on
reaching us are interpreted as heat. The shorter, more frequent waves
of the ocean would typify the short, rapid waves which leave the sun,
and which on reaching us are interpreted as light.
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