Life Cycle Of The Electric Light - 1339 Words

As a society, we take for granted simple things like turning on a light switch. It is interesting to think of Thomas Edison visiting New York City or Las Vegas in today’s age, for him to stand in amazement at all the electric light we now have. Internationally, people are able to work longer and into the night with the help of light. Construction workers can work on highways at night to lessen the impact construction has on traffic. People can even drive at night and do errands that we did not have time for during daylight hours. All this is because of the light bulb. The light bulb has come a long way, from the fires of cavemen and early inventors, to fluorescent lights and now to the modern day LED light. The life cycle of the LED light†¦show more content†¦In 1879, Thomas Edison improved on Davy’s arc lamp. By putting the filament in an oxygen free environment, like a bulb, the light lasted much longer. In 1910, William David Coolidge invented the Tungsten filament light bulb (Invention of the Light Bulb). This brings the reader to modern day filament light bulbs that last much longer. Florescent lights use a glass tube filled with Argon gas and Mercury bulbs. When electricity is applied, it creates a plasma in the bulb, therefore creating light. This form of light is a lower temperature and uses less energy. For this reason, light bulbs are currently being phased out and are being replaced by fluorescent bulbs (How a Basic Fluorescent Lamp Works). Even fluorescent lights will soon become obsolete. This is because LEDs, or Light Emitting Diodes, are becoming better and better every day. LEDs work using a phenomenon called electroluminescence, which is the emission of light from a semi-conductor from an electric field influence (How LED Flashlights Are Designed). Two different forms of silicon are used as a semiconductor called N or P type. N-type silicon has extra electrons, and P-type has gaps that seek to have an electron. When an electric current is applied to the P-N junction, it makes the diode forward biased. The electrons go from the N-type to the P-type, which causes photons (particles of light) to be given off as the electrons move to the other side. LEDs produce less heat than any other light