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Can infrared light in electric / induction cooktop hurt eye? I use them a lot and was wondering if it could end up hurting my eyes somehow. I read around that infrared light can end up hurting your eyes easily and was wondering / worrying about it.

Jessica Tiberio
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John doe
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    When were IR lights added to induction cooktops ? – Optionparty May 05 '18 at 15:06
  • I though they used ir lights to cook/ heat ? – John doe May 05 '18 at 16:20
  • I went ahead and answered the variation you asked here, but then I realized we might've covered all of this on a previous question of yours: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/88496/can-you-be-harmed-by-staring-at-induction-stove-cook-top Could you clarify how this question is different from that one? – Cascabel May 05 '18 at 17:25
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    You might be thinking of Halogen hobs, which I believe do use infrared radiation for cooking. – BauerPower May 05 '18 at 17:28
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    Possible duplicate of [Can you be harmed by staring at induction stove cook top?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/88496/can-you-be-harmed-by-staring-at-induction-stove-cook-top) – Joshua Engel May 09 '18 at 14:58

2 Answers2

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Induction cooktops do not use lights to cook/heat. They use magnetic induction, which means there's a coil with electricity passing through it in the stove, which causes (induces) eddy currents to flow in the pan sitting on it, and as those dissipate the energy is turned into heat.

All of this is completely safe, and in fact safer than other types of cooktops because there's no open flame like gas, and because the stove itself doesn't heat up as part of all this. It'll still be somewhat hot, because it has a hot pan sitting right on it, but not like a regular electric cooktop where the element is hotter than the pan. This also means an induction element won't heat up at all if there's nothing on top of it.

If there are any lights on an induction cooktop, they're visible light only, because the entire point of them is to let you know when the cooktop is on.

All hot things do emit some amount of infrared light, simply because they're hot, but it's completely safe to look at. This is what happens with non-induction electric cooktops: the element heats up so much it glows visibly red, and it's also emitting some infrared that you can't see. All completely safe, just what hot things do, not really different from looking at some glowing coals in a fireplace.

Cascabel
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A little stray IR (from a cooktop) is not going to hurt your eyes, unless you are beaming it directly into them. UV is what can damage your eyes.

Norm
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