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How do light bulbs work? |
by Brian Griffin (whyzz writer) >> more about the author
A Bright Idea for Saving Energy!
In the past few years, we’ve seen a new type of light bulb for sale in stores. These light bulbs are called “Energy-Saving Bulbs,” “Compact Fluorescent Lamps,” or “CFLs” for short. These small lamps work differently than regular light bulbs. They are tightly coiled tubes of glass with a special gas on the inside that gives off energy when electricity touches it! The energy is a special form of light that we can’t see! It’s called “ultraviolet light.” This invisible energy causes a special coating on the inside of the glass tube to glow and give off light that we can see! That’s what lights up the room.
These compact fluorescent bulbs are more expensive than regular light bulbs, but they last much longer and they are better for the environment. What type of light bulbs do you have in your home?
Sometimes in cartoons you’ll see a light bulb shine over a person’s head if they have a bright idea. In the real world, we use them in lamps to light our homes. How these tiny lights work isn’t too complicated. It’s a bright idea based on electricity!
Electricity is dangerous, so you never want to touch a wire that’s carrying electricity. It might not look too dangerous because most of the time, it doesn’t have any effect on the metals found in wires. Sometimes though, it can make special types of metals heat up. When those metals get very hot, they start to glow, and that’s the reason light bulbs light up!
There is a special metal coil in light bulbs that gets very hot and glows very brightly when electricity runs through it. It’s called a “filament”. If you look closely at a light bulb you can see this tiny, thin metal coil at the center of the bulb. Make sure you have a grown-up help you though, and make sure that the bulb is cool and not plugged into a lamp! The filament inside may look very small, but when it heats up, it gives off a lot of light! This way we can see and read in the dark!
The glass of the light bulb does more than stop the hot filament from burning anything. It keeps air away from the filament. If air touched the filament, it would catch on fire and burn out very quickly. So it’s a good thing that glass is there!
Electricity is dangerous, so you never want to touch a wire that’s carrying electricity. It might not look too dangerous because most of the time, it doesn’t have any effect on the metals found in wires. Sometimes though, it can make special types of metals heat up. When those metals get very hot, they start to glow, and that’s the reason light bulbs light up!
There is a special metal coil in light bulbs that gets very hot and glows very brightly when electricity runs through it. It’s called a “filament”. If you look closely at a light bulb you can see this tiny, thin metal coil at the center of the bulb. Make sure you have a grown-up help you though, and make sure that the bulb is cool and not plugged into a lamp! The filament inside may look very small, but when it heats up, it gives off a lot of light! This way we can see and read in the dark!
The glass of the light bulb does more than stop the hot filament from burning anything. It keeps air away from the filament. If air touched the filament, it would catch on fire and burn out very quickly. So it’s a good thing that glass is there!
A Bright Idea for Saving Energy!
In the past few years, we’ve seen a new type of light bulb for sale in stores. These light bulbs are called “Energy-Saving Bulbs,” “Compact Fluorescent Lamps,” or “CFLs” for short. These small lamps work differently than regular light bulbs. They are tightly coiled tubes of glass with a special gas on the inside that gives off energy when electricity touches it! The energy is a special form of light that we can’t see! It’s called “ultraviolet light.” This invisible energy causes a special coating on the inside of the glass tube to glow and give off light that we can see! That’s what lights up the room.
These compact fluorescent bulbs are more expensive than regular light bulbs, but they last much longer and they are better for the environment. What type of light bulbs do you have in your home?