{"title":"How Fluorescent Bulbs Work","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"category-description\"\u003e\n\u003cscript src=\"\/content\/vspfiles\/prettyPhoto\/js\/jquery.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/script\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"\/content\/vspfiles\/prettyPhoto\/css\/prettyPhoto.css\" type=\"text\/css\" media=\"screen\" charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cscript src=\"\/content\/vspfiles\/prettyPhoto\/js\/jquery.prettyPhoto.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/script\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cscript type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n  $(document).ready(function(){\n    $(\"a[rel^='prettyPhoto']\").prettyPhoto();\n  });\n\u003c\/script\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"\u003eHOW FLUORESCENT BULBS WORK\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003col style=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"\u003eAn electrical charge is released from the ballast. The ballast is not part of the fluorescent of lamp. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"\u003eThe cathodes release chemical materials to trigger the electric arc.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"\u003eThe electric arc is released and begins to pass between the cathodes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"\u003eMercury and other gases inside of the lamp reach an excited state producing radiant energy also known as UV light. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"\u003eThe UV light strikes the inner walls of the lamp which are covered in phosphor, which converts the energy to visible light.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"\u003e*The type of phosphor coating determines the color of light emitted from the lamp.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003ch1 class=\"articlePageTitle\" style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eDown the Tubes\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eThe central element in a fluorescent lamp is a \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003esealed glass tube\u003c\/span\u003e. The tube contains a small bit of \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003emercury\u003c\/span\u003eand an inert gas, typically \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eargon\u003c\/span\u003e, kept under very low pressure. The tube also contains a \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ephosphor powder\u003c\/span\u003e, coated along the inside of the glass. The tube has two\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eelectrodes\u003c\/span\u003e, one at each end, which are wired to an electrical circuit. The electrical circuit, which we'll examine later, is hooked up to an alternating current (AC) supply.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eWhen you turn the lamp on, the current flows through the electrical circuit to the electrodes. There is a considerable voltage across the electrodes, so electrons will migrate through the gas from one end of the tube to the other. This energy changes some of the \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003emercury\u003c\/span\u003e in the tube from a liquid to a gas. As electrons and charged atoms move through the tube, some of them will \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ecollide\u003c\/span\u003e with the gaseous mercury atoms. These collisions excite the atoms, bumping electrons up to higher energy levels. When the electrons return to their original energy level, they release light photons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eAs we saw in the last section, the wavelength of a photon is determined by the particular electron arrangement in the atom. The electrons in mercury atoms are arranged in such a way that they mostly release light photons in the \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eultraviolet\u003c\/span\u003e wavelength range. Our eyes don't register ultraviolet photons, so this sort of light needs to be converted into visible light to illuminate the lamp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eThis is where the tube's phosphor powder coating comes in. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ePhosphors\u003c\/span\u003e are substances that give off light when they are exposed to light. When a photon hits a phosphor atom, one of the phosphor's electrons jumps to a higher energy level and the atom heats up. When the electron falls back to its normal level, it releases energy in the form of another photon. This photon has less energy than the original photon, because some energy was lost as heat. In a fluorescent lamp, the emitted light is in the visible spectrum -- the phosphor gives off \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ewhite light\u003c\/span\u003e we can see. Manufacturers can vary the color of the light by using different combinations of phosphors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/content\/vspfiles\/assets\/images\/flu1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"prettyPhoto\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/content\/vspfiles\/assets\/images\/flu2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"prettyPhoto\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/content\/vspfiles\/assets\/images\/flu3.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"prettyPhoto\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eClick image to enlarge\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eConventional incandescent light bulbs also emit a good bit of ultraviolet light, but they do not convert any of it to visible light. Consequently, a lot of the energy used to power an incandescent lamp is wasted. A fluorescent lamp puts this invisible light to work, and so is \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003emore efficient\u003c\/span\u003e. Incandescent lamps also lose more energy through heat emission than do fluorescent lamps. Overall, a typical fluorescent lamp is four to six times more efficient than an incandescent lamp. People generally use incandescent lights in the home, however, since they emit a \"warmer\" light -- a light with more red and less blue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eAs we've seen, the entire fluorescent lamp system depends on an electrical current flowing through the gas in the glass tube. In the next section, we'll see what a fluorescent lamp needs to do to establish this current.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","products":[],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/3726\/3048\/collections\/apipqyxxz__82761.jpg?v=1752657632","url":"https:\/\/plumlighting.com\/collections\/how-fluorescent-bulbs-work.oembed","provider":"Superior Lighting","version":"1.0","type":"link"}