The Science Behind Light Bulbs

The light bulb hasn't changed a whole lot in its 120 years -- the original design was just that good. Apparently, you can throw together a filament, a glass mount, an inert gas and a bit of electricity and change the world.

A light bulb works by producing energy in the form of heat and light. The energy is produced when an electric current passes through a thin wire filament inside the bulb, causing it to heat up and emit visible light.

At the most basic level, light bulbs work by exciting atoms that release photons of light. Not all photons emit visible light, however. In fact, most of the radiation is emitted as heat rather than visible light. For this reason light bulbs are not very e

How does a light bulb work? This article is about the construction and the working principles of the light bulb, along with the historical back ground of its invention.

The production of visible light via thermal radiation is exploited in incandescent light bulbs. In these bulbs a tungsten filament inside them is heated to a temperature of about 2500 degrees Celsius, using an electric current.

It is made of a long and coiled material that is a good conductor of electricity, such as tungsten. When the electric current flows through the filament, the atoms are agitated, and the electrons...