The lumen (symbol: lm) is the SI derived unit of luminous flux, a measure of the total “amount” of visible light emitted by a source. Luminous flux differs from power (radiant flux) in that luminous flux measurements reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, while radiant flux measurements indicate the total power of all electromagnetic waves emitted, independent of the eye’s ability to perceive it. Lumens are related to lux in that one lux is one lumen per square meter. The lumen is defined in relation to the candela as 1 lm = 1 cd·sr. A full sphere has a solid angle of 4·π steradians, so a light source that uniformly radiates one candela in all directions has a total luminous flux of 1 cd·4π sr = 4π cd·sr ≈ 12.57 lumens.
