General Electric Incandescent Light Bulb
General Electric Incandescent Light Bulb
Until just over a century ago, man had two sources for light: the Sun and fire. This all changed with the development of the electric light. The light bulb changed the world immensely. No longer does the world comprise of barbaric people who lived in the dark but a civilized culture who have light at their fingertips. This paper will study in depth the production process, the disposal, and future of the incandescent light bulb.
The origins of the electric light can be dated as far back as 1802 by Sir Humphry Davy. He was able to produce an electric light, but his design was for most purposes impractical. When Thomas A. Edison designed and successfully tested the modern incandescent light in 1879, it caused a revolution resulting in mass production of the bulb. Almost no changes have been made to Edison's original design (Rose and Schlager 145-147). It is used by numerous light bulb producers, one of the most prevalent being General Electric (GE).
The standard GE light bulb consist of the aluminum base which connects to the ends of an electrical circuit. The base is attached to two stiff nickel-iron alloy wires, which are attached to a thin filament. The wires and the filament are housed in a glass bulb, which is filled with an inert gas, such as argon. When the tungsten is heated to a high enough temperature (around 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit) it will emit an enormous amount of visible light (Bloomfield).
The filament in a light bulb is made of a long, incredibly thin length of tungsten metal. In a light bulb, the tungsten filament is about six and one half feet long but only one-hundredth of an inch thick. The tungsten is arranged in a double coil in order to fit it all in a small space. In a regular light bulb, the coil is less than an inch in length. Like all metals, tungsten must be mined. Tungsten is an ideal filament because if its chemical characteristics such as having the highest
Until just over a century ago, man had two sources for light: the Sun and fire. This all changed with the development of the electric light. The light bulb changed the world immensely. No longer does the world comprise of barbaric people who lived in the dark but a civilized culture who have light at their fingertips. This paper will study in depth the production process, the disposal, and future of the incandescent light bulb.
The origins of the electric light can be dated as far back as 1802 by Sir Humphry Davy. He was able to produce an electric light, but his design was for most purposes impractical. When Thomas A. Edison designed and successfully tested the modern incandescent light in 1879, it caused a revolution resulting in mass production of the bulb. Almost no changes have been made to Edison's original design (Rose and Schlager 145-147). It is used by numerous light bulb producers, one of the most prevalent being General Electric (GE).
The standard GE light bulb consist of the aluminum base which connects to the ends of an electrical circuit. The base is attached to two stiff nickel-iron alloy wires, which are attached to a thin filament. The wires and the filament are housed in a glass bulb, which is filled with an inert gas, such as argon. When the tungsten is heated to a high enough temperature (around 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit) it will emit an enormous amount of visible light (Bloomfield).
The filament in a light bulb is made of a long, incredibly thin length of tungsten metal. In a light bulb, the tungsten filament is about six and one half feet long but only one-hundredth of an inch thick. The tungsten is arranged in a double coil in order to fit it all in a small space. In a regular light bulb, the coil is less than an inch in length. Like all metals, tungsten must be mined. Tungsten is an ideal filament because if its chemical characteristics such as having the highest
Cited: Rose, Sharon and Neil Schlager. Cds, Super Glue and Salsa: How Everyday Items are Made. New York: International Thomson, 1995. Church of the Brethren. Youth CFL Project: How can participating in the Youth CFL Project help us Help the Environment?. 2001. 14 Nov. 2004 Willett, Edward. "Glass." Edward Willett 's Science Columns. 24 May, 2001. 14 Nov. 2004 Alcoa. Mining Home Page. 14 Nov. 2004. MBendi Information Services. Mining Page. 05 Aug. 2004. 14 Nov. 2004 Mathews, Paul. The LED FAQ Pages. 2004. 14 Nov. 2004 Bloomfield, Louis A. Incandescent Light Bulbs. Nov. 2004. 14 Nov. 2004