Intensity (physics)

For other uses, see Intensity (disambiguation).

In physics, intensity is the power transferred per unit area, where the area is measured on the plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the energy. In the SI system, it has units watts per square metre (W/m²). It is used most frequently with waves (e.g. sound or light), in which case the average power transfer over one period of the wave is used. Intensity can be applied to other circumstances where energy is transferred. For example, one could calculate the intensity of the kinetic energy carried by drops of water from a garden sprinkler.

The word "intensity" as used here is not synonymous with "strength", "amplitude", "magnitude", or "level", as it sometimes is in colloquial speech.

Intensity can be found by taking the energy density (energy per unit volume) at a point in space and multiplying it by the velocity at which the energy is moving. The resulting vector has the units of power divided by area (i.e., surface power density).

Mathematical description

If a point source is radiating energy in all directions (producing a spherical wave), and no energy is absorbed or scattered by the medium, then the intensity decreases in proportion to the distance from the object squared. This is an example of the inverse-square law.

Applying the law of conservation of energy, if the net power emanating is constant,

$P=\int {\mathbf {I}}\,\cdot \mathrm {d} {\mathbf {A}}$,

where P is the net power radiated, I is the intensity as a function of position, and dA is a differential element of a closed surface that contains the source.

If one integrates over a surface of uniform intensity I, for instance over a sphere centered around the point source, the equation becomes

$P=|I|\cdot A_{\mathrm {surf} }=|I|\cdot 4\pi r^{2}\,$,

where I is the intensity at the surface of the sphere, and r is the radius of the sphere. ($A_{\mathrm {surf} }=4\pi r^{2}$ is the expression for the surface area of a sphere).

Solving for I gives

$|I|={\frac {P}{A_{\mathrm {surf} }}}={\frac {P}{4\pi r^{2}}}$.

If the medium is damped, then the intensity drops off more quickly than the above equation suggests.

Anything that can transmit energy can have an intensity associated with it. For a monochromatic propagating wave, such as a plane wave or a Gaussian beam, if E is the complex amplitude of the electric field, then the time-averaged energy density of the wave is given by:

$\left\langle U\right\rangle ={\frac {n^{2}\varepsilon _{0}}{2}}|E|^{2}$,

and the local intensity is obtained by multiplying this expression by the wave velocity, c/n:

$I={\frac {\mathrm {c} n\varepsilon _{0}}{2}}|E|^{2}$,

where n is the refractive index, c is the speed of light in vacuum and $\varepsilon _{0}$ is the vacuum permittivity.

For non-monochromatic waves, the intensity contributions of different spectral components can simply be added. The treatment above does not hold for arbitrary electromagnetic fields. For example, an evanescent wave may have a finite electrical amplitude while not transferring any power. The intensity should then be defined as the magnitude of the Poynting vector.

Alternative definitions of "intensity"

In photometry and radiometry intensity has a different meaning: it is the luminous or radiant power per unit solid angle. This can cause confusion in optics, where intensity can mean any of radiant intensity, luminous intensity or irradiance, depending on the background of the person using the term. Radiance is also sometimes called intensity, especially by astronomers and astrophysicists, and in heat transfer.

See also

• Field strength
• Sound intensity
• Magnitude (astronomy)

Table 1. SI photometry quantities

Quantity		Unit		Dimension	Notes
Name	Symbol	Name	Symbol
Luminous energy	Qv	lumen second	lm⋅s	T⋅J	The lumen second is sometimes called the talbot.
Luminous flux, luminous power	Φv	lumen (= candela steradian)	lm (= cd⋅sr)	J	Luminous energy per unit time
Luminous intensity	Iv	candela (= lumen per steradian)	cd (= lm/sr)	J	Luminous flux per unit solid angle
Luminance	Lv	candela per square metre	cd/m2 (= lm/(sr⋅m2))	L−2⋅J	Luminous flux per unit solid angle per unit projected source area. The candela per square metre is sometimes called the nit.
Illuminance	Ev	lux (= lumen per square metre)	lx (= lm/m2)	L−2⋅J	Luminous flux incident on a surface
Luminous exitance, luminous emittance	Mv	lumen per square metre	lm/m2	L−2⋅J	Luminous flux emitted from a surface
Luminous exposure	Hv	lux second	lx⋅s	L−2⋅T⋅J	Time-integrated illuminance
Luminous energy density	ωv	lumen second per cubic metre	lm⋅s/m3	L−3⋅T⋅J
Luminous efficacy (of radiation)	K	lumen per watt	lm/W	M−1⋅L−2⋅T3⋅J	Ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux
Luminous efficacy (of a source)	η	lumen per watt	lm/W	M−1⋅L−2⋅T3⋅J	Ratio of luminous flux to power consumption
Luminous efficiency, luminous coefficient	V			1	Luminous efficacy normalized by the maximum possible efficacy
See also: SI Photometry Radiometry|(Compare)

Table 2. SI radiometry units

Quantity		Unit		Dimension	Notes
Name	Symbol	Name	Symbol
Radiant energy	Qe	joule	J	M⋅L2⋅T−2	Energy of electromagnetic radiation.
Radiant energy density	we	joule per cubic metre	J/m3	M⋅L−1⋅T−2	Radiant energy per unit volume.
Radiant flux	Φe	watt	W = J/s	M⋅L2⋅T−3	Radiant energy emitted, reflected, transmitted or received, per unit time. This is sometimes also called "radiant power", and called luminosity in Astronomy.
Spectral flux	Φe,ν	watt per hertz	W/Hz	M⋅L2⋅T −2	Radiant flux per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅nm−1.
	Φe,λ	watt per metre	W/m	M⋅L⋅T−3
Radiant intensity	Ie,Ω	watt per steradian	W/sr	M⋅L2⋅T−3	Radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received, per unit solid angle. This is a directional quantity.
Spectral intensity	Ie,Ω,ν	watt per steradian per hertz	W⋅sr−1⋅Hz−1	M⋅L2⋅T−2	Radiant intensity per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅sr−1⋅nm−1. This is a directional quantity.
	Ie,Ω,λ	watt per steradian per metre	W⋅sr−1⋅m−1	M⋅L⋅T−3
Radiance	Le,Ω	watt per steradian per square metre	W⋅sr−1⋅m−2	M⋅T−3	Radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. This is a directional quantity. This is sometimes also confusingly called "intensity".
Spectral radiance Specific intensity	Le,Ω,ν	watt per steradian per square metre per hertz	W⋅sr−1⋅m−2⋅Hz−1	M⋅T−2	Radiance of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅sr−1⋅m−2⋅nm−1. This is a directional quantity. This is sometimes also confusingly called "spectral intensity".
	Le,Ω,λ	watt per steradian per square metre, per metre	W⋅sr−1⋅m−3	M⋅L−1⋅T−3
Irradiance Flux density	Ee	watt per square metre	W/m2	M⋅T−3	Radiant flux received by a surface per unit area. This is sometimes also confusingly called "intensity".
Spectral irradiance Spectral flux density	Ee,ν	watt per square metre per hertz	W⋅m−2⋅Hz−1	M⋅T−2	Irradiance of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength. This is sometimes also confusingly called "spectral intensity". Non-SI units of spectral flux density include jansky (1 Jy = 10−26 W⋅m−2⋅Hz−1) and solar flux unit (1 sfu = 10−22 W⋅m−2⋅Hz−1 = 104 Jy).
	Ee,λ	watt per square metre, per metre	W/m3	M⋅L−1⋅T−3
Radiosity	Je	watt per square metre	W/m2	M⋅T−3	Radiant flux leaving (emitted, reflected and transmitted by) a surface per unit area. This is sometimes also confusingly called "intensity".
Spectral radiosity	Je,ν	watt per square metre per hertz	W⋅m−2⋅Hz−1	M⋅T−2	Radiosity of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅m−2⋅nm−1. This is sometimes also confusingly called "spectral intensity".
	Je,λ	watt per square metre, per metre	W/m3	M⋅L−1⋅T−3
Radiant exitance	Me	watt per square metre	W/m2	M⋅T−3	Radiant flux emitted by a surface per unit area. This is the emitted component of radiosity. "Radiant emittance" is an old term for this quantity. This is sometimes also confusingly called "intensity".
Spectral exitance	Me,ν	watt per square metre per hertz	W⋅m−2⋅Hz−1	M⋅T−2	Radiant exitance of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅m−2⋅nm−1. "Spectral emittance" is an old term for this quantity. This is sometimes also confusingly called "spectral intensity".
	Me,λ	watt per square metre, per metre	W/m3	M⋅L−1⋅T−3
Radiant exposure	He	joule per square metre	J/m2	M⋅T−2	Radiant energy received by a surface per unit area, or equivalently irradiance of a surface integrated over time of irradiation. This is sometimes also called "radiant fluence".
Spectral exposure	He,ν	joule per square metre per hertz	J⋅m−2⋅Hz−1	M⋅T−1	Radiant exposure of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in J⋅m−2⋅nm−1. This is sometimes also called "spectral fluence".
	He,λ	joule per square metre, per metre	J/m3	M⋅L−1⋅T−2
See also: SI Radiometry Photometry|(Compare)