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Where did they come from? Diagram showing the major parts of a modern incandescent light bulb. Sign up to receive our best offers Subscribe.
Stay connected with Bulbs. Accepted Payments. As it gets dark, what do you do for lighting? Back before the invention of modern lighting, you probably would've reached for a candle or an oil lamp. If you lived in a big house, you probably needed several candles or lamps.
Lighting all these devices — and keeping them lit — could be quite a chore. They could also produce a lot of heat and soot that weren't necessarily very pleasant. In the late s, two inventors — American Thomas Edison and Englishman Sir Joseph Swan — came up with the same invention independently around the same time: the light bulb.
Looking back across time, it's interesting to note that it took so long for such a simple invention to come about. The traditional light bulb, also called an incandescent light bulb, is an elegantly simple device made up of only a few basic parts. In fact, it hasn't changed much since Edison's day. It was, however, a technological revolution that forever changed history. Light bulbs consist of only a few basic parts.
The metal base has two metal contacts that connect to the ends of an electrical circuit. The metal contacts attach to two stiff wires, which themselves are connected by a thin metal filament. The filament is the thin wire you see in the middle of the light bulb, held up by a glass mount.
All of this exists within a glass bulb filled with an inert gas, such as argon. When a light bulb connects to an electrical power supply , an electrical current flows from one metal contact to the other.
As the current travels through the wires and the filament, the filament heats up to the point where it begins to emit photons, which are small packets of visible light.
In a typical watt light bulb, the filament is made of a long, thin length of tungsten metal. Although the filament inside the bulb looks like it's only about an inch long, it's actually over six feet long and rolled into a tight coil. This is possible because it's only about one-hundredth of an inch thick! Not all metals will emit visible light when heated to extreme temperatures. In fact, most will melt before reaching such temperatures.
Tungsten, however, has an extremely high melting temperature, making it the perfect metal for light bulb filaments. To keep the tungsten filament from catching on fire at such a high temperature, light bulbs are made with all the oxygen sucked out to create a near vacuum. To prevent evaporation of tungsten atoms, an inert gas, such as argon, is inserted into the light bulb to extend its life.
Although incandescent light bulbs are cheap, effective, and very easy to use, they aren't very efficient. They generate a lot of heat. More advanced technologies, including fluorescent lights and light-emitting diodes LEDs , are much more efficient, generating more light and less heat. These newer technologies use less energy and are well on their way to replacing regular light bulbs.
We hope today's Wonder of the Day brightened your day! Bask in the afterglow as you explore the following activities with a friend or family member:. Sorry to hear, Kioni. But, there are over other Wonders--we're sure you'll find something you'll like! We're sorry to hear you had problems with the Wonder Word Quiz for this Wonder.
It seems to be working okay now. If you still have issues, please let us know. Hi, RIRI! That's right - each Wonder of the Day has a set of vocabulary "Wonder Words," which are highlighted in yellow. You can learn the definitions of these words and then take a Wonder Word challenge!! Great question, Colten! If the tungsten filament is broken, you can hear it rattle if you shake the lightbulb! Hi, Jayda!
Nikola Telsa is also well known for his work with electricity and communication systems. He even worked for Thomas Edison at one point. Learn more from this LiveScience article, Nikola Tesla vs. We're glad the Wonder was helpful and you learned something new! Thanks for visiting! Great to hear, hadley! We love learning new Wonder Words. Hi gage! It sounds like you are very familiar with the scientific method.
Have you done any experiments using the scientific method to learn more about light? Thanks for commenting! Thanks for leaving us this great comment! Hi, Joey! Great question! Compact fluorescent bulbs CFLs do contain small amounts of mercury, which is hazardous to your health. When they no longer work, they should be disposed of at the proper recycling centers. Many hardware stores offer free recycling of CFLs! Howdy, Angel! Thanks for dropping in to Wonderopolis to say hello!
We encourage you to go on a Wonder adventure of your own to discover how electricity powers electronics! We hope you'll come back and share what you've learned with us so we can learn something new as well! Thanks for stopping by Wonderopolis, Hunter G! It took Thomas Edison thousands of experiments over many years to develop the light bulb! He worked very hard, didn't he?! That's true, Max!
There are different light bulbs now called LEDs. Many people are switching to LEDs because they're more energy-efficient, last longer, and cost less in the long run. Thank you for sharing your comment with us, Chloe C.! Light bulbs turn on instantly because the electrical current moving from the light switch to the bulb is moving at the speed of light, million miles per hour!
Additionally the light itself is moving at that speed, so it all happens faster than the blink of an eye! Thanks for paying a visit to Wonderopolis and leaving a comment, Brook D! We usually put light bulbs in every room inside buildings and homes because the light from bulbs isn't very strong and objects like walls block the light from being able to travel far. With the United States being so big, could you imagine how large and powerful a light bulb would need to be to light up the entire country?
That depends on what kind of light bulb you are using, Emily! Incandescent bulbs the type explored in today's Wonder of the Day last an average of 1, hours. Compact fluorescents CFLs last between 8, and 10, hours. When the light bulb is connected to a source of electricity, the electricity can easily travel along the thick wires to the light bulb.
But when it reaches the filament, with its very thin wire, the electricity has to force its way through, using up a lot of energy which makes the filament very hot, and very bright. The more energy used by the incandescent light, the brighter it will be. The amount is usually written on the side of the light bulb; for example 20 watts, 40 watts and so on.
In modern houses, schools and workplaces, the incandescent light has mostly been replaced with LED lights. LEDs can also last a very long time, compared to other lights. The particular type of semiconductor in an LED reacts when an electric current is passed through it by a process called electrolumincescence and this gives out lots of light, but not very much heat.
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