The Light Bulb

Thank god for the invention of the light bulb, which has changed our lives dramatically. If nobody had invented the bulb, we would most likely still be living in the dark ages or perhaps lighting oil or lighting candlewax to generate light. That would be so inconvenient! Imagine the dropping of our productivity because we cannot work well when there is no light. Furthermore, it would be so strange if everything was as it is now, i.e. our computers and internet but we do not have any bulbs!

The incandescent light bulb, also known as the incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe provides a light source through the use of electricity. The method of light provision is known as incandescence. This refers to the creation of light energy (and heat energy) from electrical energy. How this works is that an electrical current passes through a thin filament, which is a special metal which is coiled up tightly within the light bulb. The electricity heats it up and the filament coverts the current into light and heat. Within the light globe it is not normal air but actually an inert gas like xenon or argon. This is because we cannot allow oxygen to oxidise the filament. That means the filament would react with the oxygen and burn out. The enclosed glass bulb and the inert gas within it thus prevent the oxygen in the air from reaching the hot filament, and destroying it by oxidation.

Actually the light bulb had many inventors. But most people associate Thomas Alva Edison as the inventor of the light bulb. Some the main factors which attributed the success of Thomas Edison's light bulb included that fact that he found an effective filament which was able to burn brightly, he used a good pump and was thus able to produce an effective vacuum inside the light bulb and finally, the filament also had a high resistance thus allowing proper power distribution and also more conversion of electrical energy into light energy.

Similar to the bulb we cannot do without electricity, which is not only used to power the bulb but all other electrical components as well. Similar to the light bulb also is that there were more than one inventor of electricity. Maybe the correct question should be who discovered electricity and not who invented electricity. I guess most of us are familiar of how Benjamin Franklin was curious if lightning is electricity and he decided to fly a kite (that had a metal key at the bottom of the string) during a bad electrical storm. When a bolt of lightning hit the kite, a spark of electricity actually flew from the key. This experiment led Benjamin Franklin to believe that metal attracts lightning, which is also electricity. He then invented the lightning rod to attract lightning and draw it into the ground to prevent lightning from striking buildings directly.