What is candela?
Candela is the unit of luminous intensity and is denoted by the symbol "cd". The word originates from Latin and literally means "candle". Hence, one candela is approximately equivalent to the luminous intensity of a standard candle. But what exactly is luminous intensity? Luminous intensity indicates how much light is present in each part of the light beam. Candela is also one of the seven base units of the International System of Units (SI). The other base units are: time in seconds, length in meters, mass in kilograms, electric current in amperes, temperature in kelvin, amount of substance in mole, and luminous intensity in candela. ampère, absolute temperature in kelvin and amount of substance in mol.
Relationship between candela, lumen and lux
When it comes to candela, the terms lumen 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 related to each other.
When a light beam with a strength of one lumen falls on a surface of exactly one square meter, you are dealing with one lux. The three concepts therefore all refer to something different, but they are related to each other. The three terms indicate how much light a lamp emits and how much light it yields.
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 it is referred to as a Millicandela. The letters mcd stand for Millicandela. With a factor of 10.3 is referred to as a kilocandela. The letters kcd stand for kilocandela.