Difference Between Luminosity and Brightness

Luminosity Vs Brightness

People today describe light in their own words. Subjectively speaking, they say that light is either good or bad. Sometimes you think that you are in a bad light then the next day you’re not. This is figurative though. However, did you know that light can be quantified in numerical terms? Light can be measured in terms of how much light a light source can emit or how much light is received. The greater the watts of a light bulb, the greater the amount of light will be emitted (luminosity), although this is not 100% guaranteed since watts is sometimes not too reliable. Whereas the light received can also be measured and it is termed brightness.

The area being illuminated is the inverse of brightness. They are values that are inversely proportional meaning an increase of one will decrease the other. Conversely, luminosity is not a proportion inverse to area. Luminosity is the point of origin or the source of light that is being amplified equally in every direction. If ever this light (luminosity) is directed into an enclosed tube, for example, the entire inner surface of the tube gets illuminated. The level of brightness in this instance is relatively bright. When the radius of the tube increases, the area of space inside the tube will also increase. Hence, there is a greater or wider area for the light to illuminate. The result, as observed, will be a clear reduction in overall brightness within the tube.

Brightness can be measured in terms of its luminosity. The value for this is expressed in ‘Lumens.’ It is also the amount of luminosity over a certain area of light coverage. This means that the farther away is the area of light coverage from the actual source of light, the less bright the area would be. On the other hand, luminosity is expressed as candela per square meter especially in the aspect of colors and photo imaging.

Summary:
1.Luminosity is the amount of light emitted from a certain light source whereas brightness is the amount of light manifested or received.
2.The area of illumination is inversely proportional to brightness whereas luminosity isn’t.
3.Brightness is usually expressed in ‘Lumens’ whereas luminosity is expressed in candela per square meter (photometry).

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