The Light Bulb
The Invention that Made the World Brighter
The more modern light bulb
How the Light Bulb Works
The Early Light Bulb
In 1879, Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb. Thomas Edison started his research and experiments in 1878. His experiments involved the testing of many different metal filaments, including platinum, platinum was very difficult to work with. On New Years, Thomas Edison discovered that discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could last over 1200 hours. One year later, Thomas Edison started manufacturing commercial lamps using carbonized Japanese bamboo as filaments.
The light bulb affects everyone. The light bulb allows people to have light when it is dark in a less dangerous way, unlike fire. The light bulb is inside of a flashlight and a flashlight makes it easy to see outside during the night. The light bulb affects how people drive because if there was not light bulb in your head lights then while you are on the road in the dark no one will be able to see you.
There are two types of lightbulbs: incandescent and fluorescent. An incandescent bulb uses heat caused by an electrical current. When electrical current passes through a wire, it causes the wire to heat. The wire, or filament, gets so hot that it glows and gives off light. Everyday incandescent light bulbs have a filament made of tungsten. Since the hot tungsten would quickly burn away if it were exposed to oxygen, it must be placed in a sealed glass bulb which is either evacuated or filled with a gas that wont let it burn.
Another common type of light is the fluorescent lamp. A fluorescent lamp is a glass tube filled with argon gas and a tough of mercury. When electrical current is passed through the gas the atoms of the gas pick up energy and radiate it in the form of heat. The UV light then strikes the inside of the tube, which is coated with a phosphor. The phosphor glows, giving off the light we see.
Bibliography
Haley Palazzolo. "How Does a Lightbulb Work?" How Does a Lightbulb Work? N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2015
"Thomas Edison Lightbulb." Thomas Edison Muckers RSS. Edison Innovation Foundation, 2001. Web. 19 Jan. 2015
Wikipedia contributors. "Incandescent light bulb." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 18 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Jan. 2015.
Wikipedia contributors. "Thomas Edison." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.