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Lux, Lumen Etc PDF

The document defines and describes several units used to measure characteristics of light: - The steradian is the unit of solid angle measurement, with one steradian representing the solid angle that subtends an area equal to the radius squared on a sphere. - The candela measures luminous intensity per steradian and depends only on the angle of emitted light, not the distance from the source. - The lumen is the unit of total luminous flux and is calculated by multiplying the intensity in candelas by the solid angle in steradians over which light is emitted. - Other units described include the lux (illumination of a surface), luminance (light emitted from a surface), and irradiance/ill

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350 views

Lux, Lumen Etc PDF

The document defines and describes several units used to measure characteristics of light: - The steradian is the unit of solid angle measurement, with one steradian representing the solid angle that subtends an area equal to the radius squared on a sphere. - The candela measures luminous intensity per steradian and depends only on the angle of emitted light, not the distance from the source. - The lumen is the unit of total luminous flux and is calculated by multiplying the intensity in candelas by the solid angle in steradians over which light is emitted. - Other units described include the lux (illumination of a surface), luminance (light emitted from a surface), and irradiance/ill

Uploaded by

Syed Abubakar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Characteristics of Light

Steradian:
• The steradian (symbolized sr) is the Standard International (SI) unit of
solid angular measure. There are 4 pi, or approximately 12.5664,
steradians in a complete sphere.
• A steradian is defined as conical in shape, as shown in the illustration.
Point P represents the center of the sphere. The solid (conical)
angle q, representing one steradian, is such that the area A of the
subtended portion of the sphere is equal to r2, where r is the radius of
the sphere.
Candela
• The candela measures the luminous intensity per steradian of light
originating from a specific direction or a real source as if it were emerging
form a point source at that origin.
• The number of “Candelas” from a real source varies with direction not with
distance.
• Since the luminous intensity is described in terms of an angle, the distance
at which you measure this intensity is irrelevant.
• In this picture, screen B would catch exactly the same amount of light rays
(emitted from the light source) as screen
A —provided that screen A were removed to not
obscure screen B. This is because screen B covers
the same angle as screen A.( i.e Candela is only
concern with angle not with the distance from the source)
LUMEN
• The basic unit of light energy is the lumen, which measures the total flow of
photons or light energy produced by a light source.

• The lumen (unit lm) gives the total luminous flux of a light source by multiplying
the intensity (in candela) by the angular span over which the light is emitted.
With the symbol Φv for lumen, Iv for candela and Ω for the angular span in
steradian, the relation is:
Φv=Iv⋅Ω
• If a light source is isotropic (meaning: uniform in all directions), Φv=4π Iv. This is
because a sphere measures 4π steradians.

• Power is the flow of energy. One joule per second is 1 watt of power, so a 1
lumen = 1/683 Joule/sec = 1/683 watt.
• A good example demonstrating the difference between lumens and
candlepower is the laser. Lasers have a very high candlepower
because the light is focused into a single point, but it would have a
very low lumen value because it does not give off a substantial
amount light. You certainly would not want to go on a walk in the
woods at night with a laser pointer.
Lux
• Lux (unit lx) is a measure of illumination of a surface.
• The difference between lux and candela is that lux measures the
illumination of a surface, instead of that of an angle.
• The net result is that the distance of that surface from the light source
becomes an important factor (in case of lux): the more distant that the
surface is from the light source, the less it will be illuminated by it. In the
picture at the right, screen A has the same size as screen B.
Luminance
• Luminance is a measure for the amount of light emitted from a surface (in a
particular direction).
• Luminance is the amount of light energy emitted or reflected from an object
in a specific direction. Luminance is measured in candela per square metre
(cd/m2) or nit (these two terms being interchangeable)
• Luminance and illumination ("Lux") are related,
in the sense that luminance is typically used for
light-emitting surfaces and illumination for
surfaces that are being lit.
Irradiance and Illuminance:
• Irradiance is a measure of radiometric flux per unit area, or flux
density.
Irradiance is typically expressed in W/cm2 (watts per square
centimeter) or W/m2 (watts per square meter).
• Illuminance is a measure of photometric flux per unit area, or visible
flux density.
Illuminance is typically expressed in lux (lumens per square meter) or
foot-candles (lumens per square foot).

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