Infrared heat

[DickR]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

...
The wood stove, which also works by radiant heating, generally does well with a room... but it does take some time to get the room up to temperature.

A wood stove disperses heat by both modes, by direct radiation to surfaces facing the hot surfaces of the stove and by convective air currents, heating up air flowing in from near floor level, passing over the hot stove surfaces, and continuing on up to ceiling level and outward toward other parts of the room or up a stairwell. Both modes distribute a significant amount of heat, but convective distribution does more of the total heat load. Still, distribution by air flow induced by density differences in general is slower than when a force air heating system's blower is moving it, as you point out.

For those interested, any surface radiates heat outward at a rate proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature (Rankine or Kelvin). The nature of the surface (dull black vs light shiny) determines its emissivity.

[John Mercier]

The electric radiant heater, and the electric convection, will also do both.

It is the dominate function that they are pushing.
Neither is operating in a vacuum like the Sun... and air molecules do absorb radiation.