photometer

photometer

an instrument used in photometry, usually one that compares the illumination produced by a particular light source with that produced by a standard source

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photometer [fō′täm·əd·ər]

(engineering)

An instrument used for making measurements of light or electromagnetic radiation, in the visible range.

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Photometer

An instrument used for making measurements of light, or electromagnetic radiation, in the visible range. In general, photometers may be divided into two classifications: laboratory photometers, which are usually fixed in position and yield results of high accuracy; and portable photometers, which are used in the field or outside the laboratory and yield results of lower accuracy. Each class may be subdivided into visual (subjective) photometers and photoelectric (objective or physical) photometers. These in turn may be grouped according to function, such as photometers to measure luminous intensity (candelas or candlepower), luminous flux, illumination (illuminance), luminance (photometric brightness), light distribution, light reflectance and transmittance, color, spectral distribution, and visibility. Visual photometric methods have largely been supplanted commercially by physical methods, but because of their simplicity, visual methods are still used in educational laboratories to demonstrate photometric principles. See Illuminance, Luminance, Luminous flux, Luminous intensity

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Photometer

An instrument used for making measurements of light, or electromagnetic radiation, in the visible range. In general, photometers may be divided into two classifications: laboratory photometers, which are usually fixed in position and yield results of high accuracy; and portable photometers, which are used in the field or outside the laboratory and yield results of lower accuracy. Each class may be subdivided into visual (subjective) photometers and photoelectric (objective or physical) photometers. These in turn may be grouped according to function, such as photometers to measure luminous intensity (candelas or candlepower), luminous flux, illumination (illuminance), luminance (photometric brightness), light distribution, light reflectance and transmittance, color, spectral distribution, and visibility. Visual photometric methods have largely been supplanted commercially by physical methods, but because of their simplicity, visual methods are still used in educational laboratories to demonstrate photometric principles.