Well, that’s the power delivered by the light, since 1 lux delivers approximately 1/683 watts for light at the optimal human sensitivity peak. Fireflies are pretty close to that peak, I think. So he is probably calculating .03 lumens/683 as the power, which is roughly right. Now, I don’t know what you are really asking. The firefly will use a lot more power to create that light, which is probably what you want to know. How far up the chemical pathway do you want to go?
On Apr 23, 2020, at 12:01 AM, Brad Klee <bradklee@gmail.com> wrote:
Either I don’t know, or I don’t care. Since the thread title isn’t asking for standard formulae, I am erring toward the side of real-world examples. Here’s another one, FIREFLY POWER.
A firefly lights it’s lantern to 0.03 lumens, and a scientist (so he claims) estimates the generating power as 0.045mW.
Is the estimate believable? Why or why not?
—Brad
On Apr 20, 2020, at 9:55 PM, Brent Meeker via math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
Power = Force*Speed = Force*Distance/Time = Work/Time
It doesn't matter whether the force is producing acceleration or just overcoming friction or gravity.
Brent
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