Common terms in selecting a light bulb are 'flood' light or 'spot'
light. These are designations of beam angle. The beam angle is the
degree of width that light eminates from a light source. Specifically:
The angle between those points on opposite sides of the beam axis where
the intensity drops to 50% of maximum.
Typically a narrow beam angle is a 'spot' of light and a broader beam
angle 'floods' an area with light, called a
flood light. There are a
number of much more specific designations of beam angle. They are not
used consistently between all the light bulb manufacturers, but several
use this general terminology:
Light Bulb Beam Angle Definitions
- VNSP: Very narrow spot
- NSP: Narrow spot
- SP: Spot
- NFL: Narrow flood
- FL: Flood
- WFL: Wide flood
- VWFL: Very wide flood
LED Insider uses the following designations for describing beam angle:
- Narrow Spot: 05-15 degrees
- Spot: 16-22 degrees
- Narrow flood: 23-32 degrees
- flood: 33-45 degrees
- wide flood: 45+ degrees
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