Explanation
Illuminance is a measure of how much luminous flux is spread over a given area. One can think of luminous flux (measured in lumens) as a measure of the total "amount" of visible light present, and the illuminance as a measure of the intensity of illumination on a surface. A given amount of light will illuminate a surface more dimly if it is spread over a larger area, so illuminance is inversely proportional to area.
One lux is equal to one lumen per square metre:
- 1 lx = 1 lm/m2 = 1 cd·sr·m–2.
A flux of 1,000 lumens, concentrated into an area of one square metre, lights up that square metre with an illuminance of 1,000 lux. However, the same 1,000 lumens, spread out over ten square metres, produces a dimmer illuminance of only 100 lux.
Achieving an illuminance of 500 lux might be possible in a home kitchen with a single fluorescent light fixture with an output of 12,000 lumens. To light a factory floor with dozens of times the area of the kitchen would require dozens of such fixtures. Thus, lighting a larger area to the same level of lux requires a greater number of lumens.
As with other SI units, SI prefixes can be used, for example a kilolux (klx) is 1,000 lux.
Here are some examples of the illuminance provided under various conditions:
| Examples | |
|---|---|
| Illuminance | Surfaces illuminated by: |
| 10−4 lux | Moonless, overcast night sky (starlight) |
| 0.002 lux | Moonless clear night sky with airglow |
| 0.27–1.0 lux | Full moon on a clear night |
| 3.4 lux | Dark limit of civil twilight under a clear sky |
| 50 lux | Family living room lights (Australia, 1998) |
| 80 lux | Office building hallway/toilet lighting |
| 100 lux | Very dark overcast day |
| 320–500 lux | Office lighting |
| 400 lux | Sunrise or sunset on a clear day. |
| 1,000 lux | Overcast day; typical TV studio lighting |
| 10,000–25,000 lux | Full daylight (not direct sun) |
| 32,000–130,000 lux | Direct sunlight |
Unicode has a symbol for "lx": (㏓). It is a legacy code to accommodate old code pages in some Asian languages. Use of this code is not recommended.
Read more about this topic: Lux
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