If you thought this blog was about the movie, then sorry to disappoint you Selmon Bhoi fans. I’m talking about the actual Tubelights, the lamps you can easily find in your houses. It’s amazing how we often overlook the things that are so closest to us. While keeping this tendency in mind, let’s shine some light upon tube lights.
1. Originally, tubelights were known as fluorescent lamps, a type of gas-discharge lamp. These lamps rely on fluorescence to produce visible light.
2. The theory behind fluorescence was first explained in the mid-19th-century at the University of Cambridge after Sir George Stokes, an Irish researcher, observed fluorite, a mineral that glowed when it contained impurities.
3. The lamp was further developed by many researchers who tried different materials to produce luminescence. All of the models relied on the nature of electricity explained by Faraday and Maxwell.
4. This was a hot topic in the 19th century, and many famous minds made some contributions to the field. Thomas Edison developed a fluorescent lamp for commercial purposes. It received a patent a few years later, but it was never put into production.
5. Today’s fluorescent lamps have improved by leaps and bounds. Initially, they were only available in the form of long glass tubes. However, with the development of Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), now we get lamps in many shapes.
6. The most common fluorescent lamps have electrodes on either side. These electrodes are connected to an electrical supply which enables the current to flow through the gas inside the tube, producing light.
7. The choice of gas inside the tube is also crucial. Argon is the most commonly used gas, but other gases of the same family like Krypton, Xenon or Neon can also be used. The tube also contains a small amount of mercury vapour. As mercury isn’t that healthy for the environment, substitutes for gas are constantly being looked out for.
8. The inside of a glass tube is coated with a Phosphor which gives a fluorescent lamp its fluorescent capabilities. It also has a ballast from which it regulates the current in the tube.
9. UV Light is produced inside the tube when the current is turned on. When this UV light comes in contact with the Phosphor coating, it stimulates the electrons producing the visible light. This is the light that we can see.
All in all, it is an incredibly efficient design. Once it has completed the initial steps to create light, the amount of electricity it needs to keep producing light is minimal. They are more energy-efficient alternatives to incandescent bulbs. Nonetheless, with the development of LED lamps, fluorescent lamps are slowly becoming obsolete.
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I am Rakshit Aswal, a recent graduate of English Hons. from University of Delhi. I like to play videogames and read books while on my pursuit to experience amazing stories.