Kilowatt per Square Meter [kW/m²]

The unit kilowatt per square meter (kW/m²) measures heat flux density or radiant flux, representing the amount of energy transferred per unit area per unit time, scaled to kilowatts. One kilowatt equals 1000 watts, so 1 kW/m² = 1000 J of energy passing through 1 square meter every second.

This unit is widely used in solar energy, fire safety engineering, and high-intensity thermal applications to quantify power delivered per area. Typical applications include:

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  Solar concentrators and photovoltaic panels: assessing the intensity of sunlight on a surface

  
  
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  Fire testing: measuring heat flux from flames or radiative heaters

  
  
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  Industrial processes: calculating energy input in furnaces or reactors

  
  

Mathematically, heat flux is expressed as:

where q is heat flux in kW/m², Q is energy in kilojoules, A is area in square meters, and t is time in seconds.

For reference, direct sunlight at noon on a clear day provides roughly 1 kW/m² at the Earth’s surface.

kW/m² is an SI-derived unit and is convenient for large-scale energy calculations, replacing older units like Btu/ft²·h or cal/cm²·s. It provides a straightforward way to assess power per unit area in engineering and environmental applications.

Dyne per Hour per Centimeter [dyne/(h·cm)]

The unit dyne per hour per centimeter, written as dyne/(h·cm), measures force per unit length over time, often used in contexts such as viscous drag, material creep, or very slow mechanical processes in cgs (centimeter-gram-second) units.

A dyne is the cgs unit of force, defined as the force required to accelerate 1 gram of mass by 1 cm/s². Therefore, 1 dyne = 10⁻⁵ newtons in SI units. The additional division by centimeter represents a per-unit-length measure, and division by hour accounts for time rate.

Mathematically, the quantity can be expressed as:

where F is force in dynes, L is length in cm, and t is time in hours.

Applications include:

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  Creep or stress studies in materials under very small forces over long periods

  
  
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  Lubrication or viscous flow measurements in cgs-based engineering studies

  
  
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  Experimental mechanics where small forces per unit length are measured over extended time

  
  

Conversion to SI units:

This unit is largely of historical or specialized interest but provides a precise cgs-based measure for extremely slow, small-force phenomena.