That Warm, Golden Sunshine? It's Mostly a Ghost.
We call it "sunlight." We bask in its "glow." But that's our brain's polite fiction. What really hits our skin is a wild, trippy cocktail of energy, most of which is completely invisible to us.
Here’s the mind-blowing breakdown of what leaves the Sun:
43% is the visible light we actually see-the "sunlight" we think of. 49% is infrared radiation. That's not "light" that's pure, undiluted HEAT. You feel it, but you can't see it. 7% is ultraviolet radiation. The silent, energetic burn behind tans, sunburns, and mutations.
So, less than half of what the Sun sends our way is even visible. The majority is an invisible onslaught of heat and radiation.
But
it gets stranger. Earth’s atmosphere is the ultimate, life-saving
bouncer. It filters this cosmic energy soup before it hits our skin.
It
strips out some of the harshest UV (thankfully) but lets most of the
infrared heat through. The final mix that actually reaches you on a
sunny day is subtly but crucially different—slightly more of the visible
light we love, the same relentless heat, and just enough UV to keep
things interesting.
The next time you feel the sun on your face, remember: you're only sensing a sliver of the reality.
You are standing in a visible sliver of a massive, invisible energy
flood. The "light" is just the pretty part of a much louder, hotter, and
more dangerous signal.