Electric light

arc lamps
gas-discharge lamps, e.g., uorescent lights and
compact uorescent lamps, neon lamps, ood
lamps, modern photographic ashes
lasers
light-emitting diodes, including OLEDs
sulfur lamps
Dierent types of lights have vastly diering eciencies
and color of light.

Colored lights illuminating the Monks cellarium, Fountains

Abbey

Color temperature is dened as the temperature of a black

body emitting a similar spectrum; these spectra are quite different from those of black bodies.

For other uses, see Electric light (disambiguation).

The most ecient source of electric light is the lowpressure sodium lamp. It produces, for all practical
purposes, a monochromatic orange/yellow light, which
gives a similarly monochromatic perceprtion of any illuminated scene. For this reason, it is generally reserved
for outdoor public lighting usages. Low-pressure sodium
lights are favoured for public lighting by astronomers,
since the light pollution that they generate can be easily
ltered, contrary to broadband or continuous spectra.

An electric light is a device that produces visible light

by the ow of electric current. It is the most common
form of articial lighting and is essential to modern society, providing interior lighting for buildings and exterior
light for evening and nighttime activities. Before electric
lighting became common in the early 20th century, people used candles, gas lights, oil lamps, and res. Most
electric lighting is powered by centrally generated electric power, but lighting may also be powered by mobile
or standby electric generators or battery systems. Battery1.1 Incandescent light bulb
powered lights, usually called "ashlights" or torches,
are used for portability and as backups when the main
Main article: Incandescent light bulb
lights fail.
The two main categories of electric lights are
incandescent lamps, which produce light by a lament
heated white-hot by electric current, and gas-discharge
lamps, which produce light by means of an electric arc
through a gas. The energy eciency of electric lighting
has increased radically since the rst demonstration
of arc lamps and the incandescent light bulb of the
19th century. Modern electric light sources come in
a profusion of types and sizes adapted to a myriad of
applications. The word lamp can refer either to a light
source or an or the appliance that holds the source.

The modern incandescent lightbulb, with a coiled lament of tungsten, was commercialized in the 1920s developed from the carbon lament lamp introduced in
about 1880. As well as bulbs for normal illumination,
there is a very wide range, including low voltage, lowpower types often used as components in equipment, but
now largely displaced by LEDs
There is currently interest in banning some types of lament lamp in some countries, such as Australia planning
to ban standard incandescent light bulbs by 2010, because
they are inecient at converting electricity to light. Sri
Lanka has already banned importing lament bulbs because of high use of electricity and less light. Less than
3% of the input energy is converted into usable light.
Nearly all of the input energy ends up as heat that, in
warm climates, must then be removed from the building
by ventilation or air conditioning, often resulting in more
energy consumption. In colder climates where heating

Types

Types of electric lighting include:

incandescent light bulbs
1

TYPES

and lighting is required during the cold and dark winter stantaneous on/o control, and in the case of single color
months, the heat byproduct has at least some value.
LEDs, continuity of color throughout the life of the diode
and relatively low cost of manufacture.
1.1.1

Halogen lamp

Main article: Halogen lamp

1.4 Carbon arc lamp

Main article: Arc lamp

Halogen lamps are usually much smaller than standard

incandescents, because for successful operation a bulb
temperature over 200 C is generally necessary. For
this reason, most have a bulb of fused silica (quartz),
but sometimes aluminosilicate glass. This is often sealed
inside an additional layer of glass. The outer glass is
a safety precaution, reducing UV emission and because
halogen bulbs can occasionally explode during operation.
One reason is if the quartz bulb has oily residue from
ngerprints. The risk of burns or re is also greater with
bare bulbs, leading to their prohibition in some places unless enclosed by the luminaire.
Those designed for 12 V or 24 V operation have compact laments, useful for good optical control, also they
have higher eciencies (lumens per watt) and better lives
than non halogen types. The light output remains almost
constant throughout life.

1.2

Fluorescent lamp

Main article: Fluorescent lamp

Fluorescent lamps consist of a glass tube that contains
mercury vapour or argon under low pressure. Electricity
owing through the tube causes the gases to give o ultraviolet energy. The inside of the tubes are coated with
phosphors that give o visible light when struck by ultraviolet energy.[1] have much higher eciency than Incandescent lamps. For the same amount of light generated, they typically use around one-quarter to one-third
the power of an incandescent.

1.3

Carbon arc lamps consist of two carbon rod electrodes

in open air, supplied by a current-limiting ballast. The
electric arc is struck by touching the rods then separating
them. The ensuing arc heats the carbon tips to white heat.
These lamps have higher eciency than lament lamps,
but the carbon rods are short lived and require constant
adjustment in use. The lamps produce signicant ultraviolet output, they require ventilation when used indoors,
and due to their intensity they need protecting from direct
sight.
Invented by Humphry Davy around 1805, the carbon arc
was the rst practical electric light. They were used commercially beginning in the 1870s for large building and
street lighting until they were superseded in the early 20th
century by the incandescent light. Carbon arc lamps operate at high powers and produce high intensity white
light. They also are a point source of light. They remained in use in limited applications that required these
properties, such as movie projectors, stage lighting, and
searchlights, until after World War 2.

1.5 Discharge lamp

A discharge lamp has a glass or silica envelope containing two metal electrodes separated by a gas. Gases used
include, neon, argon, xenon, sodium, metal halide, and
mercury.
The core operating principle is much the same as the carbon arc lamp, but the term 'arc lamp' is normally used to
refer to carbon arc lamps, with more modern types of gas
discharge lamp normally called discharge lamps.

LED lamp

With some discharge lamps, very high voltage is used to

strike the arc. This requires an electrical circuit called
Main article: Solid-state lighting
an igniter, which is part of the ballast circuitry. After
the arc is struck, the internal resistance of the lamp drops
Solid state LEDs have been popular as indicator lights to a low level, and the ballast limits the current to the
since the 1970s. In recent years, ecacy and output have operating current. Without a ballast, excess current would
risen to the point where LEDs are now being used in light- ow, causing rapid destruction of the lamp.
ing applications as well as in decorative applications such Some lamp types contain a little neon, which permits
as holiday lighting.
striking at normal running voltage, with no external igIndicator LEDs are known for their extremely long life,
up to 100,000 hours, but lighting LEDs are operated
much less conservatively, and consequently have shorter
lives.

nition circuitry. Low pressure sodium lamps operate this

way.

The simplest ballasts are just an inductor, and are chosen where cost is the deciding factor, such as street lightLED technology is useful for lighting designers because ing. More advanced electronic ballasts may be designed
of its low power consumption, low heat generation, in- to maintain constant light output over the life of the lamp,

3
may drive the lamp with a square wave to maintain completely icker-free output, and shut down in the event of
certain faults.

Lamp life expectancy

Life expectancy is dened as the number of hours of operation for a lamp until 50% of them fail. This means
that it is possible for some lamps to fail after a short
amount of time and for some to last signicantly longer
than the rated lamp life. This is an average (median) life
expectancy. Production tolerances as low as 1% can create a variance of 25% in lamp life. For LEDs, lamp life
is when 50% of lamps have lumen output drop to 70% or
less.
Lamps are also sensitive to switching cycles. The rapid
heating of a lamp lament or electrodes when a lamp is
turned on is the most stressful event on the lamp. Most
test cycles have the lamps on for 3 hours and then o for
20 minutes. (Some standard had to be used since it is
unknown how the lamp will be used by consumers.) This
switching cycle repeats until the lamps fail and the data
is recorded. If switching is increased to only 1 hour on,
the lamp life is usually reduced because the number of
times the lamp has been turned on has increased. Rooms
with frequent switching (bathroom, bedrooms, etc.) can
expect much shorter lamp life than what is printed on the
box.

Public lighting

The total amount of articial light (especially from street

light) is sucient for cities to be easily visible at night
from the air, and from space. This light is the source of
light pollution that burdens astronomers and others.

Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or

populated areas of the Earths surface, including the seaboards
of Europe, the eastern United States, Japan and South Korea.

4 See also
List of light sources

5 References
[1] Perkowitz, Sidney; Henry, A. Joseph (23 November
1998). Empire of Light:: A History of Discovery in Science
and Art. Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 978-0309065566.
Retrieved 4 November 2014.

6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

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Electric light Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_light?oldid=684827400 Contributors: Vicki Rosenzweig, BlckKnght, Heron,

Michael Hardy, Tregoweth, Mulad, Topbanana, Jerzy, David.Monniaux, AlexPlank, Rholton, Michael Snow, Lupin, Curps, Sam Hocevar, Surngslovak, O'Dea, Guanabot, SpookyMulder, Chairboy, Hooperbloob, Ekko, Wtmitchell, Wtshymanski, Skatebiker, DV8 2XL,
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