What is candela?
Candela is the unit of luminous intensity and is indicated by the letters CD. The word comes from Latin and literally means candle. This is why one candela corresponds to the luminous intensity of a normal candle. But what exactly is the luminous intensity? The luminous intensity indicates how much light is contained in each section of the light beam. Candela is also one of the seven basic units of the SI system. The other basic units are: time in seconds, length in metres, mass in kilograms, electronic current in ampere, absolute temperature in kelvin and amount of substance in mol.
Relationship between candela, lumen and lux
When it comes to candela, the terms lumens and lux is also often mentioned. This is because the three terms are closely related. Lumen represents the total luminous flux of a light beam. This is therefore different from the total luminous intensity. The number of lux indicates how much light reaches the desired surface. This therefore helps to determine the light pattern to determine. Lux and lumen are directly connected. When a light beam with a strength of one lumen falls on an area of exactly one square metre, you are dealing with one lux. So the three terms all have different meanings, but they are related. The three terms indicate how much light a lamp emits and how much light it produces.
Different units
Since there are many different types of lighting, each with its own strength, there are also different units for candela. There are only two, one larger unit and one smaller unit. With a factor of 10−3 one speaks of a millicandela. The letters mcd stand for millicandela. With a factor of 103 is referred to as a kilocandela. The letters kcd stand for kilocandela.
