Harm from light bulbs, fact or fiction? The negative impact of CFL. A Brief History of the Light Bulb

Variety of choice

Today, you can light up your home with a wide variety of light bulbs. The lighting market offers the buyer just a huge range of lamps that can be screwed into chandeliers, wall sconces or ceiling lamps.

Each light bulb has its own advantages and disadvantages. But besides this, some products can cause some harm to human health, especially if you look at them for a long time. This article will tell you what types of light bulbs exist, as well as how much harm they can cause to human health.

Selection Options

The choice of lamps to create the necessary lighting in the room is quite problematic, since their range gives ample scope in this matter. Each room in the house has its own lighting requirements. Therefore, the choice of light bulbs should be done according to several parameters:

• power;
• light level;
• characteristics of the created lighting
• duration of work;
• price;
• potential harm that light bulbs can cause to human health. It is very important here that only environmentally friendly materials participate in the creation of the light bulb.

Note! You should also choose a light bulb according to the requirements of the room in which it will work. Only in this way the purchased product will best meet your needs.

According to all these parameters, products offered on the lighting products market should be evaluated.

Variety in everything

Today, the following light bulbs can be used to illuminate the interior of a house or apartment:

Bulb pear

• incandescent light bulb ("pear") or as it is also called "Ilyich's light bulb". This is the most common and famous model. It was also used by our grandparents. But today, due to a sufficient list of shortcomings, such light bulbs are used less and less. The disadvantages of this product include an insufficient level of light, the release of heat during operation. Besides, it's not very pleasant to look at. But such a light bulb costs quite cheaply, thanks to which it is still in demand among the population;

Halogen lamp

• halogen bulbs. These are products of a new generation, compared with a bulb-pear. The advantages of such lamps include high light output, long service life, as well as availability in the pricing policy. In addition, halogen models are distinguished by efficiency and compactness. Also, such lamps do not heat up during operation, since they are based on halogens. They combine with tungsten atoms, thus preventing the walls of the bulb from heating up. Therefore, it will be easier to look at such bulbs than at the previous type. Their use in the house for lighting rooms is less harmful than conventional incandescent lamps;

Note! Halogen lamps are most often used today to create decorative and additional lighting in rooms.

Fluorescent Lamp

• fluorescent lamps. Such products are most often found in public institutions: hospitals, schools, office buildings, laboratories, etc. They are used in rooms where there is a need for constant lighting. They are characterized by a sufficiently high light output on a par with long term operation. Such positive qualities were achieved through the use of a ballast. It creates a high voltage that causes the tungsten electrodes to charge. This charge, in turn, excites the mercury atoms that coat the bulb. They emit ultraviolet photons, creating a luminescence effect;

Note! Misuse products may lead to quick breakdown and harm to human health.

LED lamp

• LED sources Sveta. Such light bulbs are quite popular today, as they have one of the longest service life and are very economical. But the cost of such products is quite high.

As you can see, each of the above light sources has a number of advantages, remaining popular today.

Cons of operation

Artificial lighting has long been an integral part of our lives. Many people today are active in the evening or at night. At the same time, few people think about the fact that such lighting can be harmful to our health. Moreover, to cause harm, it is not necessary to look at the light bulb.
To understand the harm that each light bulb can cause to human health, consider them in more detail:

• incandescent light bulb. Despite the obvious disadvantages in terms of operation and specifications luminous flux, to date they are one of the safest sources of light. This is primarily due to the principle of operation, which consists in the passage of current through a tungsten filament. The only negative point can be a long-term observation of the operation of the light bulb, which can lead to the appearance of "circles" before the eyes;
• halogen light. Such lamps are more advanced than previous version. The principle of operation here has undergone minor changes, which made it possible to increase the service life and characteristics of the luminous flux. As a result, the lamp glows quite brightly and juicy. Such products are also quite safe and can only cause indirect harm. During operation, halogen lamps heat up, so when touched, they can cause more pain or even a slight burn. This, in principle, also applies to incandescent bulbs;

Note! Halogen lamps must be kept out of the reach of children.

• fluorescent and LED lights- the most dangerous models. These products are very popular today and are most often used to illuminate the interior of the house. But they are quite dangerous due to the peculiarities of their design.

The Danger of Popularity

Fluorescent light bulbs are less popular than LED bulbs today, but are also very commonly used in our fixtures. At the same time, few people know that in the course of their work they create strong electromagnetic and radio frequency fields. They have a negative impact on the human nervous and immune systems. Also, their work can negatively affect the general well-being of a person, leading to the appearance of a certain kind of chronic diseases.
It is also shown that the use of luminescent products as a light source for reading books for one year can lead to a drop in visual acuity.
Separately, it is worth noting that the principle of operation of fluorescent lamps involves the presence of mercury.

Lamp device

Even such a microscopic presence of mercury is quite enough to get health troubles in the event that such a light bulb breaks.
In addition, such devices are characterized by flickering, which negatively affects the visual system and clarity of vision.
Less dangerous are LED light sources. This is due to the fact that they do not contain mercury. They give more soft light without flicker. But such devices create a radio frequency field. Therefore, for safe operation, they should be placed at a sufficient distance from the person.

Leader in the negative

UV lamps

Separately, it is worth noting that the most dangerous light bulbs today are ultraviolet light sources. Often such lighting devices are used in nightclubs and bars. This is due to the fact that they can highlight some of the materials used in the manufacture of clothing.

Such light bulbs create bright lighting, in addition to flickering, which negatively affects the human psyche and his vision. The eyes begin to water and get tired very quickly. Especially with prolonged use.
UV light sources are not recommended for home use.
As you can see, not all light bulbs are safe for use in homes and apartments. So make an informed choice. Remember that health is above all!

How to choose outdoor metal halide spotlights
Halogen incandescent lamp - what you need to know when choosing

As the name implies, the light source in LED lamps are miniature electronic devices- LEDs. In the usual incandescent lamps, light is emitted by a hot metal spiral. In energy-saving lamps, light is emitted by a phosphor, which is applied to the inner surface of the glass tube. In turn, the phosphor glows under the action of a gas discharge.

Before moving on to the actual LED lamps, we briefly consider the features of each type of lamp.

incandescent lamp It is arranged very simply: a spiral of refractory metal is fixed inside a transparent glass flask, from which air is pumped out. Passing through the coil, the electric current heats it up to high temperature at which the metal glows brightly.

The advantage of these lamps is low price. However, it is compensated by the same low odds useful action: less than 10% of the energy consumed by a light bulb is converted into visible light. The rest is uselessly dissipated in the form of heat - the light bulb gets very hot during operation. In addition, the service life of the device is very short and is approximately 1,000 hours.

Compact fluorescent lamp, or CFL(this is the exact name of an energy-saving lamp), at the same brightness of light consumes about five times less electricity than an incandescent lamp. CFLs are more expensive and have several disadvantages that are significant for the consumer:

• quite a long time (several minutes) flare up after switching on;
• the lamp with its curved glass bulb looks unaesthetic;
• CFL light flickers, which is tiring for the eyes.

LED lamp consists of several LEDs mounted in one housing with a power supply. You can’t do without a power supply: LEDs need power to work direct current with a voltage of 6 or 12 V, in a household electrical network - alternating current with a voltage of 220 V.

The lamp body is most often made in the form of a familiar "pear" with a screw base. Thanks to this, LED lamps can be installed without problems in a conventional socket.

Depending on the LEDs used, the color of the emission of LED lamps may be different. This is one of their advantages.

Advantages of LED lamps:

• very low power consumption - on average eight times less than incandescent lamps of the same brightness;
• very long service life - they work 25–30 times longer than incandescent lamps;
• almost do not heat up;
• radiation color - optional;
• stable lighting brightness with fluctuations in supply voltage.

The main advantage of LED lamps is efficiency. It is assumed that due to the low power consumption and long service life of LED lamps will significantly reduce lighting costs.

The price of LED lamps at the time of writing was about three times higher than conventional ones. Consequently, in monetary terms, they are 50-100 times more economical. Of course, this savings will be achieved provided that the lamp fully fulfills the promised service life and does not burn out ahead of time.

The disadvantages of LED lamps limit their scope:

• uneven light distribution - the power supply built into the case obscures the light flux;
• matte flask looks ugly in glass and crystal lamps;
• the brightness of the glow, as a rule, cannot be changed using a dimmer;
• unsuitable for use at very low (in the cold) and high (in steam rooms, saunas) temperatures.

What to consider when choosing an LED lamp

LED lamps have many characteristics. This makes the task of getting it right more difficult. Let's take a look at what exactly the different characteristics mean.

Supply voltage

If your apartment or house has unstable voltage, you need to choose lamps that can operate over a wide voltage range. This is always indicated on the packaging. Unlike incandescent lamps, LED lamps burn just as brightly at low voltage as they do at normal voltage.

Emission color

Color is characterized by color temperature, which is measured in kelvins: as the color temperature rises, the light changes from yellow to blue. In most cases, the color of the radiation is indicated on the packaging and the lamp body in degrees and in the words:

• warm (2700 K) - roughly corresponds to the radiation of an incandescent lamp;
• warm white (3,000 K) - considered optimal for residential premises;
• cold white (4000 K) - for and industrial premises; close to daylight.

There are lamps changeable color: When you switch the mode, the emission spectrum of such a lamp changes.

It must be borne in mind that many people perceive the blue part of the spectrum poorly, so the cold light of the lamps will seem dim to them. So, if you decide to install lamps with a cold spectrum at home, choose them with a power margin.

Power

The packaging of LED lamps indicates their luminous flux and power of incandescent lamps similar in brightness. The real power consumption of LED lamps is on average 6–8 times less. For example, a 12W LED lamp shines as brightly as a conventional 100W light bulb. This ratio can be used when choosing an LED lamp to replace an incandescent lamp.

However, an unpleasant surprise may await you here: the declared power may not correspond to the actual one, and the lamp will shine weaker than expected.

In addition, the brightness of LEDs decreases over time. It is possible that the light bulb will have to be changed long before the expiration of its service life due to the fact that it began to shine too weakly.

Other important points

• Dimensions. LED lamps are slightly larger than similar incandescent lamps. Therefore, in small lampshades they may simply not fit.
• If your lamp is switched on through a dimmer, you need the appropriate bulbs. The packaging should indicate that the lamp is adjustable.
• The color rendering index of LED lamps is low, which means that they somewhat distort the visual perception of colors. In some cases, such as when photographing with LED light, this can be important.

Strategy for switching to LED lamps

Potential should not make you lose your head. Do not rush to run to the store and buy light bulbs for all the lights in the house at once. It is advisable to be guided by two principles.

1. Replace only bulbs with high power- 60 W or more. Savings from replacing low-wattage lamps will be small, and the cost of a new lamp may not pay off.
2. Replace lamps in fixtures with the longest burning time during the day: for example, in chandeliers in living rooms. It makes no sense to change the light bulb in some utility room, the light in which is lit from time to time and not for long.

Do not expect that the energy consumption will decrease significantly.

The main consumers of electricity in everyday life - different kind heating appliances: iron, electric kettle, washing machine and especially the electric stove. According to several people interviewed, the electricity bill after switching to LED lamps is reduced by about 15-25%.

Another tip: do not buy many lamps of the same brand at once, first take one or two for a test. The fact is that lamps with the same color temperature different manufacturers can vary greatly in the light emitted. Suddenly the spectrum of these lamps will be unpleasant for you? Better try.

Conclusion

LED lamps, compared to traditional incandescent lamps, are a fundamentally new solution for lighting.

A few years ago they were very expensive. technical novelty, but today their price is already comparable to the price of other types of lamps. As for the characteristics, LED lamps are noticeably superior to previous lighting devices. The verdict is unequivocal: the transition to LED lamps is fully justified.

Ordinary light bulbs that are familiar to all of us, and their main advantage is the pleasant color of the light they emit. Object colors tend to look more accurate under this type of lamp. Incandescent light bulbs use a lot of electricity as they produce a lot of heat.

Incandescent lamps produce 8-12 lumens of light per 1 watt of energy consumed. The more powerful the incandescent lamp, the more lumens of light it produces per unit of power consumed. For example, one 100W lamp produces almost exactly the same amount of light (1360 Lumens) as two 60W lamps (1420 Lumens).

The disadvantage of these lamps is that these lamps are inefficient in terms of modern standards and have a relatively short service life (about 1000 hours). Incandescent lamps are available in a variety of shapes and sizes and have a range of different bases.

Matte or transparent?

The basic principle of choosing between frosted and transparent lamps is as follows:
• If the lamp has transparent shades, use transparent bulbs
• If the lamp has frosted shades, use frosted light bulbs
• In the children's room, use frosted light bulbs. Toddlers love to look at the lamp, and these lamps give a light that is more comfortable for the child's eye.
• In crystal lamps, lamps with a lot of pendants, crystals and other light-refracting details, use transparent bulbs, as the bright open spiral of a transparent incandescent lamp gives necessary game Sveta

Reflector lamps

Reflector incandescent lamps have a silver-plated surface - this is their only difference from conventional incandescent lamps. A reflective surface directs light in a certain direction. Such lamps are usually designed for directional light fixtures - spots. The most common types of these lamps are R50, R63, PAR38.

Halogen bulbs

Halogen light bulbs are light bulbs with an incandescent filament containing halogen gas. They give, like incandescent lamps, a very attractive light that resembles sunlight. But they are somewhat more efficient than incandescent bulbs, as they produce 20% more light per wattage and last longer, around 2,000 hours.

The main advantage of a halogen lamp is its small size. The appearance of this lamp allowed designers to create new designs of lamps and shades. The GU10 halogen lamp with built-in reflector is the most common recessed lamp. And it is used in many directional light fixtures (spots).

The emergence of powerful linear halogen lamps of the R7S type, with a power of 300W, made it possible to create a class of floor lamps that provide soft, pleasant lighting reflected from the ceiling and illuminate the entire room. The main types of halogen lamps: G9, G4, R7S, GU10. Each type is available in several capacities.

Fluorescent lamps

They are - energy saving light bulbs. They contain gas in the tube and do not have a filament. They have been used everywhere for many years and are better known as the long white pipes commonly found on the ceilings of public buildings.

The latest technology has reduced the size and improved the efficiency of light bulbs. Compact fluorescent lamps, which are now commonly called Energy-Saving. There are many different shapes and wattages of light bulbs available now.

The term "Energy Saving" should also apply to other types of low energy lamps, such as LED.

The advantages of compact fluorescent lamps - low energy consumption due to the release of a small amount of heat - consume 20% of the energy of a conventional light bulb, with the same radiated luminous flux. Long service life, up to 8000 hours.

Compact fluorescent lamps produce 50-60 lumens per watt, five times more light per unit of wattage than incandescent lamps. They are ideal for use where the light must be on for a long time. "Warm white" lamps with improved light color are available from many leading lamp manufacturers. The color, color impression that a fluorescent lamp creates during operation is characterized by the Color temperature parameter. The unit of measurement is Kelvin.

For fluorescent lamps, the color temperature is divided into these main categories:
• Below 3300 K - white, warm light
• 3300-5000K neutral light
• Over 5000 K "cold" light

Information about color temperature fluorescent lamps is placed on their packaging.

The disadvantages of this type of lamps include them high cost and not as pleasant as incandescent lamps, light. Also, with almost all energy-saving fluorescent lamps, you cannot use a dimmer (power rheostat). Only a few of the world's leading lamp manufacturers, notably Philips, have a range of fluorescent lamps that can be dimmed.

Due to the low heat generation, energy-saving lamps can be used (if they fit the ceiling) to increase the amount of light from the fixtures. For example, a chandelier rated for 5 x 40W incandescent bulbs = 200W. We want more light from her. We cannot use more powerful incandescent lamps, as we have a limitation on the power of the lamp in the cartridge. (From a more powerful lamp, the cartridge may melt). But if five energy-saving lamps are used in this chandelier, each power is 20W, then due to the fact that a 20W energy-saving lamp gives light like a 100W incandescent lamp, such a chandelier will give light like a 5 * 100W incandescent chandelier.

On the popular wave of movement to reduce energy consumption, modern manufacturers are now paying great attention to the development and production of series of luminaires designed specifically for work with energy-saving lamps and sold as a set immediately with such lamps.

LED light bulbs

LED lamps are made on the basis of a light-emitting diode.
An LED is a semiconductor that converts electrical current into light. The basis of the LED is a semiconductor crystal. When passing electric current through this crystal arises light emission. The color of the radiation can be different, depending on the composition of the crystal. In LEDs for household lighting a semiconductor crystal made of gallium nitride is used, this crystal gives blue color. To obtain white light, a phosphor is applied to the crystal. Phosphor is a complex chemical substance that is excited by the light of a crystal and produces its own yellow light emission. In this case, the phosphor absorbs only part of the light from the semiconductor crystal, and transmits part of it. As a result of mixing blue light from gallium nitride, which has passed through the phosphor, and yellow light from the phosphor, white light is obtained.

LED light sources have huge advantages over all other lamps:

• Profitability. LEDs convert up to 80% of the electricity received into light radiation. The luminous efficiency of the best modern LEDs has reached 160 lumens per watt of power. This is almost twice as much as energy-saving fluorescent lamps and almost twenty times more than incandescent bulbs.
• Long service life - 50 thousand hours and more. This will ensure the operation of the LED lamp for about 20 years without replacement, when used 8 hours a day.
• High mechanical strength - unlike all lamps made of glass, the LED is resistant to external influences.
• The number of on/off switches has no effect on the life of the LED.
• Small size, compactness - unlike conventional lamps, which structurally require a bulb - the LED is just a small plate. The small size of the LED opens up opportunities for creating new types of lamps. It is possible that the increasing use of LEDs in residential lighting may change the approach to all forms and types of lamps. Now, most of the LEDs for household lighting are placed inside lamps with familiar shapes and with a standard base.

The spread of LED lamps is constrained only, for the time being, by a high price. But LED prices are dropping every year and in the near future, as many predict, all household lighting will be created using LEDs.

Modern technologies in lighting have significantly expanded, but at the same time complicated the choice of light bulbs for home use. If earlier in 90% of apartments, apart from ordinary incandescent bulbs from 40 to 100W, there was little, but today there are a great many varieties and types of lighting lamps.

Buying the right type of lamp for a lamp in a store is not such an easy task.
What do you want from high-quality lighting in the first place:

• eye comfort

• energy savings

• harmless use

Plinth type

Before buying a light bulb, it is first important to determine the type of base you need. Most household lighting fixtures use two types of screw base:

It differs according to the diameter. The numbers in the designation and indicate its size in millimeters. That is, E-14=14mm, E-27=27mm. There are also adapters for lamps from one lamp to another.

If the ceiling lamps of the chandelier are small, or the lamp has some specifics, then a pin base is used.

It is denoted by the letter G and a number that indicates the distance in millimeters between the pins.
The most common are:

• G5.3 - which are simply inserted into the socket of the lamp
• GU10 - first inserted and then turned a quarter of a turn

The spotlights use the R7S base. It can be for both halogen and LED lamps.

The lamp power is selected based on the limitation lighting device in which it will be installed. Information about the type of base and the power limit of the lamp used can be seen:

• on the box of the purchased lamp
• on the ceiling of the already installed
• or on the bulb itself

Flask shape

The next thing to pay attention to is the shape and size of the flask.

A flask with a threaded base may have:

Pear-shaped are designated by the nomenclature - A55, A60; ball - the letter G. The numbers correspond to the diameter.
Candles are marked Latin letter- WITH.

A flask with a pin base has the shape:

• small capsule
• or flat reflector

Lighting standards

Lighting brightness is an individual concept. However, it is generally accepted that for every 10m2 with a ceiling height of 2.7m, a minimum illumination equivalent to 100W is required.

Illumination is measured in lux. What is this unit? In simple words- when 1 lumen illuminates 1m2 of room area, then this is 1 lux.

For different rooms, the rules are different.

Illumination depends on many parameters:

• distance from light source
• surrounding wall colors
• reflections of the light flux from foreign objects

Illumination is very easy to measure using familiar smartphones. Just download and install special program. For example - Luxmeter (link)

True, such programs and phone cameras usually lie compared to professional lux meters. But for domestic needs, this is more than enough.

Incandescent and halogen bulbs

The classic and most inexpensive solution for lighting an apartment is the familiar incandescent lamp, or its halogen version. Depending on the type of base, this is the most affordable purchase. Incandescent and halogen bulbs give a comfortable warm light without flickering and do not emit any harmful substances.

However, halogen lamps are not recommended to touch the bulb with your hands. Therefore, they must be packed in a separate bag.

When a halogen lamp burns, it heats up to a very high temperature. And if you touch her bulb with greasy hands, then residual voltage will form on it. As a result, the spiral in it will burn out much faster, thereby reducing its service life.

In addition, they are very sensitive to power surges and often burn out because of this. Therefore, they are put together with soft start devices or connected via dimmers.

Halogen lamps are mostly produced to operate from a single-phase network with a voltage of 220-230 volts. But there are also low-voltage 12 volts that require connection through a transformer for the corresponding type of lamp.

The halogen lamp shines brighter than the usual one, by about 30%, and consumes the same power. This is achieved due to the fact that it contains a mixture of inert gases.

In addition, during operation, particles of tungsten elements return back to the filament. In a conventional lamp, gradual evaporation occurs over time and these particles settle on the bulb. The light bulb dims and works half as much as a halogen one.

Color rendering and luminous flux

The advantage of conventional incandescent lamps is a good color rendering index. What it is?
Roughly speaking, this is an indicator of how much light close to the sun is contained in the scattered flux.

For example, when sodium and mercury lamps illuminate the streets at night, it is not entirely clear what color cars and people's clothes are. Since these sources have a poor color rendering index - in the region of 30 or 40%. If we take an incandescent lamp, then here the index is already more than 90%.

Now the sale and production of incandescent lamps with power over 100W are not allowed in retail stores. This is done for reasons of conservation of natural resources and energy savings.

Some still mistakenly choose lamps based on the power inscriptions on the package. Remember that this figure does not indicate how brightly it shines, but only how much electricity it consumes from the network.

The main indicator here is the luminous flux, which is measured in lumens. It is on him that you need to pay attention when choosing.

Since many of us previously focused on the popular power of 40-60-100W, manufacturers for modern economical lamps always on the packaging or in the catalogs indicate the correspondence of their power to the power of a simple incandescent bulb. This is done solely for the convenience of your choice.

Luminescent - energy saving

Fluorescent lamps have a good level of energy saving. Inside them is a tube from which a flask is made, coated with phosphor powder. This provides a glow 5 times brighter than incandescent lamps at the same power.

Luminescent ones are not very environmentally friendly due to the deposition of mercury and phosphor inside. Therefore, they require careful disposal through certain organizations and containers for receiving used light bulbs and batteries.

They also have a flickering effect. It is easy to check this, just look at their glow on the display through the smartphone camera. It is because of this reason that it is not advisable to place such bulbs in residential areas where you are constantly located.

LED

LED lamps and fixtures of various shapes and designs are widely used in various areas of life.

Their advantages:

• thermal overload resistance
• little effect on voltage drops
• ease of assembly and use
• high reliability under mechanical stress. Minimal risk that it will break when dropped.

LED lamps heat up very little during operation and therefore have a plastic light body. Thanks to this, they can be used where others cannot be installed. For example, in stretch ceilings.

Energy savings for LEDs are more significant than for luminescent and energy-saving ones. They consume about 8-10 times less than incandescent lamps.

If we roughly take the average parameters for power and luminous flux, then we can get the following data:

These results are approximate and in reality will always differ, since a lot depends on the voltage level, the brand of the manufacturer and many other parameters.

For example, in the United States, in one fire station, an ordinary incandescent light bulb is still burning, which is already more than 100 years old. Even a special website was created, where through web camera, online, you can watch it.

Everyone is waiting for it to burn down to record this historic moment. You can see.

Light flow

In order not to look for obscure numbers and quickly distinguish the value of the luminous flux, manufacturers often put visual color codes on the packaging:

This is precisely its feature and advantage, which is widely used in open fixtures.

For example, if we are talking about crystal chandeliers, then when using an ordinary LED lamp in it, because of its matte surface, the crystal will not “play” and will not shimmer. It shines and reflects light only with a directed beam.

In this case, the chandelier does not look very rich. The use of filament in them reveals all the advantages and all the beauty of such a lamp.

These are all the main types of lighting lamps widely used in an apartment and a residential building. Choose the option you need according to the above characteristics and recommendations, and equip your home correctly and comfortably.

The incomprehensible history of a 113-year-old incandescent light bulb

The average incandescent lamp works for 1000 - 2000 hours, after which it burns out. The duration of LED (LED) lamps ranges from 25,000 to 50,000 hours.

But there is one lamp in the California fire department that has been estimated to have run for 989,000 hours—nearly 113 years. This lamp was installed in 1901. Since then, a lot has changed, many employees of the fire service have changed, but one “eternal incandescent lamp” has remained unchanged. Its longevity is still a mystery.

A Brief History of the Incandescent Light Bulb

It is believed that Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb in 1879. Although earlier inventors experimented in this direction.

In 1802, British chemist Humphrey Davy invented the incandescent light bulb by applying current to platinum strips. In the next 75 years, inventors repeated and improved the filament.

Scottish inventor James Bowman Lindsay is famous, who in 1835 boasted of his new light bulb, allowing him to "read a book at a distance of one and a half meters", but later he switched to wireless telegraphy.

Five years later, a whole group of scientists took up experiments with platinum filaments. And although high price platinum did not allow the device to be mass produced, but the design they developed formed the basis of the first patent for an incandescent lamp, received in 1841.

American inventor John W. Starr replaced expensive platinum filaments with cheaper carbon filaments, but soon died of tuberculosis before he could finish his development.

A few years later, the British physicist Joseph Swan, using Starr's ideas, created a working copy of the lamp, and in 1878 became the first person in the world to decorate his house with incandescent bulbs.

Thomas Edison in America worked on the improvement of carbon filaments. By increasing the degree of vacuum in the lamp bulb, together with an improved carbon filament, in 1880 it was possible to achieve 1200 hours of lamp operation and put it into mass production in the amount of 130,000 light bulbs per year.

At the same time, a man was born who was destined to create the most durable light bulb in the world.

The Shelby Electric Company

Born in 1867, Chaiet lived in Paris and had the opportunity to watch the growing popularity of electric light bulbs. At the age of 11, he decided to earn his own money and began to accompany his father, a Swedish immigrant and owner of a small incandescent lamp company. Chaie became interested in physics and graduated from two academies of sciences at once - German and French. After training, Schiet was engaged in the design of filaments in a large German energy company, and in 1896 he moved to the USA, where he worked for General Electric for some time, but then he managed to get $ 100,000 investment (which in 2014 is equivalent to $ 2,750,000) and open a factory for Shelby Electric Company lamps.

To show the superior quality of his products, Shaye decided to conduct a public trial. Light bulbs from different manufacturers were placed side by side and all were connected to the same power source, the voltage in which was gradually increased. The Western Electrician in 1897 tells what happened next:

"Lamps of various brands began to burn out and explode, until the laboratory was left lit only by Shelby lamps, none of which suffered even at sufficiently high voltage during such a demonstrative test."

Shelby claims its light bulbs last 30% longer and burn 20% brighter than any other bulb in the world. This contributed to the explosive success of the company. In 1897, the Western Electrician reported that the company "had received so many orders for the first of March that they had to work all night and drastically increase the size of the factory." By the end of the year, the company's productivity had doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 lamps per day, and "the benefits of using Shelby lamps were so obvious that they certainly did not go unnoticed even among the most skeptical consumers."

Production continued throughout the next decade. During this time, new technologies with tungsten filaments and new manufacturers have appeared. The Shelby company was unable to modernize its production in time and was unable to compete with new manufacturers. In 1914, they were bought by General Electric, and Shelby light bulbs were discontinued.

The Centennial Light

In 1972, the head of the fire department in the city of Livermore, California told a local newspaper about a strange thing. Shelby's light bulb, located on the ceiling of his station, has been burning continuously for decades. This bulb has long been a legend in the fire department and no one knows for sure how long it burns and where it came from. Mike Dunstan, a young reporter for the Tri-Valley Herald, took up the investigation. this issue and what he found was really impressive.

After collecting dozens of oral histories and written histories, Dunstan determined that the light bulb was purchased by Dennis Bernal from the Livermore Power and Water Co. (the city's first power company) around the end of the 1890s, and then taken over by the city's fire department in 1901, after Bernal sold the company.

In its early years, the light bulb, known as the Centennial Light, was only moved a few times, hung in the fire department for a few months and then, after a brief stay in the garage and city hall, moved to the Livermore fire station. "It stayed on 24 hours a day to light a dark path for the company's employees," then-fire station chief Jack Baird told Dunstan.

Although Baird acknowledged that it did once turn off "for about a week when Roosevelt's Office of Public Works remodeled the firehouse back in the 1930s," Guinness World Records officials did establish that the hand-blown lamp at 30 watts reached 71 years of service life and was "the oldest incandescent lamp in the world."

In addition to the reconstruction of the fire station in 1930, the light bulb went out a couple of times - in 1976, when it was brought to the new Livermore Fire Station No. a crowd eager to see it rekindled.

After installing the lamp in a new place, they began to conduct video surveillance of it to make sure that the latter was really burning without interruption. In subsequent years, the Internet appeared online camera titled "BulbCam", demonstrating the operation of the lamp in real time. Last year, fans of the light bulb (of whom there are almost 9,000 on Facebook) were horrified when it stopped glowing.

At first it seemed that she had finally finished her work, but after nine and a half hours, it was discovered that the light bulb's uninterruptible power supplies had failed. As soon as their work was restored, the light bulb began to illuminate the room again. Thus, the 113-year-old incandescent lamp outlived its power supply (however, it also survived three CCTV cameras).

Now the long-lived lamp has its own website www.centennialbulb.org, where, among other things, you can follow its work via a webcam (pictures are taken with an interval of 10 seconds).

Today, the lamp still shines, although one retired volunteer firefighter once said that “it doesn’t give much light anymore” (only about 4 watts). But the owners of a fragile piece of history treat it with great responsibility: Livermore firefighters take care of a small light bulb like a porcelain doll. “No one wants that light bulb to go out in front of them,” former fire chief Stuart Gary once said. “If it broke while I was still in charge, it wouldn’t bode well for my career.”

They don't act like they usually do.

Everyone from MythBusters to National Public Radio has come up with their own explanations for the Shelby light bulb's longevity. But, in general, there is only one answer - a complete mystery, because the Schieu patent left most of the process unexplained.

Some, like UC Berkeley electrical engineering professor David Tse, openly question the light bulb's authenticity. Others, like engineering student Henry Slonsky, argue that this is most likely due to the fact that once all things were made with a huge margin of safety than they are today. “At that time,” he says, “people were making things far more solid than they needed to be.”

Justin Felgar, one of Dr. Katz's students, further explored the light bulb and published his work in 2010 as The Filament of the Centennial Lamp. In it, Felgar writes that he managed to find out one curious pattern: the hotter the Shelby lamp heats up, the large quantity electricity passes through the filament of the Centennial Light (which is the exact opposite of what happens with modern tungsten filaments). Felgar claims that in order to determine the exact cause of the Shelby's filament fire resistance, it would be necessary to "tear off one piece" and run it through a particle accelerator at the Naval Academy, but this is a very expensive process, and therefore it still remains not verified.

Ultimately, Katz and her colleagues have no definitive answer to this mystery. “I thought that for sure all physical processes must eventually end,” she says. “But maybe something happened to this particular light bulb.” Former Deputy Fire Chief Livermore agrees. “The reality is that it’s probably just another mistake of nature,” he told NPR reporters in 2003, “only one in a million light bulbs can continue to glow like this year after year.”

lamp cartel

Today, the average incandescent lamp lasts about 1500 hours, while first-class led light bulbs($25 each) emit light for about 30,000 hours. Whether or not a century-old light bulb had a secret working formula, it burned for 113 years - about 1 million hours. So why can't we create exactly the same long-lasting light bulb?

Lamp companies such as The Shelby Electric Company took pride in the long life of their products, so much so that the durability of their products was a constant focus of their marketing campaigns. But by the mid-1920s, the ways of doing business had changed somewhat and a new rule began to prevail in them:

"Products that don't wear out are a tragedy for business." This line of thought is called "planned obsolescence," in which manufacturers intentionally shorten the lifespan of their products, resulting in faster replacement.

In 1921, Osram, a multinational light bulb manufacturer, formed the "Internationale Glühlampen Preisvereinigung" (International Light Bulb Pricing Association) to regulate prices and limit competition. General Electric soon responded by founding in Paris " international company General Electric. Together, these organizations traded patents and sales information to strengthen their position in the lighting market.

In 1924, Osram, Philips, General Electric and other major electric companies met and formed the Phoebus cartel under the guise of a common collaboration ostensibly aimed at standardizing light bulbs. Instead, they began to engage in planned obsolescence. To achieve the latter, the companies agreed to limit the lifespan of light bulbs to 1,000 hours—shorter than even Edison bulbs (1,200 hours). Any company that produces a light bulb that lasts more than 1,000 hours will be fined.

Prior to its dissolution during World War II, the cartel allegedly halted all research into light bulbs with a longer life span for twenty years.

Whether or not planned obsolescence is still on the agenda of light bulb manufacturers is highly debatable, and there is no definitive evidence that any of this has happened (or is happening). In any case, the production of incandescent lamps is gradually declining around the world: this trend began to be seen in Brazil and Venezuela in 2005, and many countries followed suit (the European Union, Switzerland and Australia sharply reduced the production of such lamps in 2009, Argentina and Russia – in 2012, while the United States, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia and South Korea- in 2014).

As soon as more efficient technologies(halogen, LED, compact fluorescent lamps, magnetic induction lamps), old filament lamps are gradually becoming a relic of the past. But hanging from the white ceiling of Livermore Fire Station No. 6, an impossibly old light bulb is more relevant than ever and still refuses to go out of service.