Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Einstein (unit)
For other topics related to Einstein see Einstein (disambig)
An einstein is a unit used in irradiance and in photochemistry. One einstein is one mole of photons, regardless of their frequency. Therefore, one einstein equals Avogadro's number. Irradiance can be measured in einsteins per square metre per second.
It intervenes in photosynthesis, where the light requirement for the production of oxygen is a fixed number of einsteins (about nine einsteins per mole of oxygen formed), regardless of the frequency of the light.
It is named in honour of Albert Einstein, who explained the photoelectric effect and introduced the idea of light quanta, now called photons, in a 1905 paper.
Last updated: 05-07-2005 06:11:00
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details