-
Period: to
The Evolution of Lighting
-
Vacuum Tube Lamp (continued)
Flemming's successful discovery of this led to the birth of microwaves. "Characteristic Curves." Characteristic Curves. Education, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/trace/CC.html. -
Vacuum Tube Lamp
The "Edison Effect" was discovered by Thomas Edison when he built this lamp. Inside the Vacuum tube, electrons could only flow in one direction, and never the other. The electrons would only flow from the hot metal element to the cooler metal plate. In 1904, Fleming was having trouble converting a weak alternating current into a direct current. Then he found that Edison’s Vacuum Tube Lamp would be able to make this conversion since the electrons could only flow one way. -
Eletric Light bulb
A common misconception is that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but he really did not. He only built upon a fifty year old idea, and improved the light bulb. Thomas Edison used a lower electrical current, improved vacuum inside the light bulb, and a carbonized filament to create a longer lasting light bulb. The electric light bulb burned for thirteen and a half hours. -
Electric Light Bullb (continued)
Scaramozzino, Jeanine. "Cal Poly." Monthly Book Lists. Robert E. Kennedy Library, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. http://libguides.calpoly.edu/content.php?pid=66706.http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htmSpurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Spurlock Museum, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. http://www.spurlock.uiuc.edu/search/index.php?skip=1600. -
Incandescent Light Bulbs
The General Electric Company made tungsten filaments to use in incandescent light bulbs, which was a new improvement over the other light bulbs at the time period. The high melting point of the tungsten (3, 410˚C) and the low vapor pressure caused the tungsten to evaporate slower in higher temperatures. This made tungsten a cheaper material to use, therefore making it superior to the other filaments that were being used at the time. -
Incandescent Light Bulb (continued)
Incandescent light bulbs were not very efficient since only four to six percent of the electricity supplied to it was converted to visible light.
The rest of the energy was wasted in heat.
"Tesla Coil with Fluorescent Lamp." Tesla Coil with Fluorescent Lamp. North Carolina State University, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. http://demoroom.physics.ncsu.edu/html/demos/250.html. -
Fluorescent Lamp
The General Electric Company developed the fluorescent lamp in Cleveland, Ohio in 1934. The general materials used to construct the lamp consisted of glass, mercury, and tungsten. The lamp was in the center of the clear glass envelope. Three inches of the fluorescent lamp also was coated with phosphor.
"Tesla Coil with Fluorescent Lamp." Tesla Coil with Fluorescent Lamp. North Carolina State University, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. http://demoroom.physics.ncsu.edu/html/demos/250.html. -
Laser
Laser is the acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of radiation. In order to produce a laser light, a photon hits an atom that is already excited which makes the atom release a new photon. So the incoming photon, and the new photon are completely identical, since the atom just cloned the incoming photon. This process is called "stimulated emission." This concept was discovered by Einstein, but it was only a concept, and was seen as useful in the scientific world. -
Laser (continued)
In 1960, Theodore Maiman made the first operating laser in the Hughes Research Laboratory in California. Laser light is now used to cut precise patterns in glass, checkouts in supermarkets, CD players, and also in the medicine field. To the left, is a picture of Theodore Mainman holding the first real laser light. -
Short Arc Lamp
Willliam Roch devloped the "Short Arc Lamp" which was a type of compact fluorescent lamp. However, the short arc in the lamp required high currents to generate power, which in turn made it non efficient. -
LED Light Sheet
A company called the Nth Degree Technologies created a sheet of light that is made up of tons of little LED lights. These lights are made from carving up a thin piece of gallium nitride which creates millions of small LED lights. One-fourth inch wafer can hold approximately eight million of them. The LED's are then amalgamated with resin and binders, and then a standard screen printer screen printer is used to place the remaining ink over a large surface. -
LED Light Sheet (continued)
While these lights are more efficient than incandescent light bulbs, they are not yet as efficient as fluorescent light bulbs. Nth Degree Technology hopes to replace light bulbs with these new thin sheets of lights.
