subject: The Light Bulbs Available In The Market [print this page] The light bulbs have a long historyThe light bulbs have a long history. What would we do without these small gadgets that we sometimes take for granted? The long manufacturing process that gave rise to what we today know as the light bulb has many names on it; Names of great people who lived at the end of the eighteenth century and who worked hard enough to see this element become what it is today. Among the great pioneers is Thomas Edison, who concentrated on producing the light bulb for so many years.
Other people followed in this invention to come up with diversified forms of the bulb, hence the various types available, like the incandescent and the fluorescence bulbs. Today, use of light bulbs to give light to our homes has become the in thing. Use of paraffin lamps and torches is slowly but surely going to the wind. As we all know, light bulbs are very fragile items and they need to be handled with a lot of care. How then can we make them last for long? One thing to do is to go for long-life bulbs.
There are the types of bulbs that are made of filament that withstand slightly higher temperatures than the usual ones. The outcome is that, the filament will not wear out fast and will give you more service. The other way to make your light bulbs last long is to buy a soft-start device. Have you ever experienced a situation where your bulb just burns out the moment you switch it on? Well, this happens due to the power current surge that passes through the filament once power is switched on.
These devices are available in many forms, and they are attached to the base of the bulb, to counteract the high current passing onto the bulb. The different types of light bulbs in the market today have all been invented for a purpose. There are those bulbs that can be used to cut down on power costs. Among these are the CFL and the LED bulbs that will, at the end of the day, cause you to save a lot on your electricity bills. They not only use less energy, but they also last for over 50,000 hours, making them more durable. As such, you will find that you will even spend less replacing these bulbs than the ordinary high voltage bulbs.
There are different methodologies used in making bulbs and there has been a major debate on whether bulbs should be gas-filled or should be left as a vacuum inside. The argument against vacuum bulbs is the fact that, they are quickly worn out through the oxidization of the filament. This, as it has been discovered, happens at a very high speed and many light bulbs only last for 1000 days or less. As for the gas-filled bulbs, the filament is found to evaporate at very slow rate and hence lasts longer. This is because it is insulated from external oxygen which wears out the filament.
