Any physicists or smart people here?

I got some heat cable recently from Big Apple Herp. and am very happy with it; but I now have some abstract questions about heat. The heat cable and heat tape are for local heat. Basking lights give off a different kind of heat which is more general.

In my home, there are different types of heat as well. My electric range heats only what I'm cooking, in contrast, an electric room heater I own radiates heat to the entire room.

Why does a basking light heat the air and entire area and heat tape only a local area? Are the types of energy different? Energy, like matter, does not simply disappear, why do the different kinds of energy dissipate in different ways? Where does the local heat go when it dissipates?

i'm not an expert but i do hvac for a living. basically it is the scientific law of heat transfer. warmer objects always lose or give up their heat to cooler ones. as to where the energy goes to exactly, i think that is above my skills.
i think the energy/heat is used up when it transfers to cooler objects/molecules. just my thoughts on this, hope tis may help

interesting topic!


thanks
vaughn

The three basics of heat transfer are radiation, conduction, and convection.

These links will explain better than I can (I only play a scientist on TV).

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C004/018.html

http://sol.sci.uop.edu/~jfalward/heattransfer/heattransfer.html

Thank you Matt, that is what I was looking for!

You are a TV actor? **cool !! **