The document summarizes the history of the development of the lightbulb over generations, from Humphry Davy's first incandescent light in 1802 to modern day lightbulbs. It took thousands of hours of research by many scientists building on each other's work to create a practical household light source. Key developments included creating a better vacuum seal to prevent blackening, the use of carbon filaments like bamboo and tantalum, and the discovery that a tight tungsten coil increased brightness and efficiency. The modern lightbulb introduced in 1910-1911 uses a tungsten filament in a high vacuum.
The document summarizes the history of the development of the lightbulb over generations, from Humphry Davy's first incandescent light in 1802 to modern day lightbulbs. It took thousands of hours of research by many scientists building on each other's work to create a practical household light source. Key developments included creating a better vacuum seal to prevent blackening, the use of carbon filaments like bamboo and tantalum, and the discovery that a tight tungsten coil increased brightness and efficiency. The modern lightbulb introduced in 1910-1911 uses a tungsten filament in a high vacuum.
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Short summary description of the history of the lightbulb
The document summarizes the history of the development of the lightbulb over generations, from Humphry Davy's first incandescent light in 1802 to modern day lightbulbs. It took thousands of hours of research by many scientists building on each other's work to create a practical household light source. Key developments included creating a better vacuum seal to prevent blackening, the use of carbon filaments like bamboo and tantalum, and the discovery that a tight tungsten coil increased brightness and efficiency. The modern lightbulb introduced in 1910-1911 uses a tungsten filament in a high vacuum.
The document summarizes the history of the development of the lightbulb over generations, from Humphry Davy's first incandescent light in 1802 to modern day lightbulbs. It took thousands of hours of research by many scientists building on each other's work to create a practical household light source. Key developments included creating a better vacuum seal to prevent blackening, the use of carbon filaments like bamboo and tantalum, and the discovery that a tight tungsten coil increased brightness and efficiency. The modern lightbulb introduced in 1910-1911 uses a tungsten filament in a high vacuum.
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EG11006: - Lightbulbs old and new
Written Assignment: Jamie McGregor, 140008469
1. Summary Lighrtbulbs were not made overnight. There was thousands of hours of research and effort put into the project that spanned generations. The number of scientists that work collectively on this project purely by using their predecessors work is extraordinary to see and we are lucky that the fruits of their labor has caused for us to have this everyday object which is used nearly everywhere without that much recognition being put into its original design process. 2. Introduction In the beginning there were no lightbulbs. This all changed in the year of 1802 when a chemist by the name of Humphry Davy created the first incandescent light by sending a current through a platinum strip. This began the study of attempting to create a source of light that would beat the commonly used candles in brightness, duration, and safety. 3. Technical Content After Davy there was a physicist called Frederick de Moleyns who created the worlds first lightbulb by taking Davys findings of platinum filaments and placing them inside a clear glass tube. While it worked temporarily there were issues (figure 1), which caused for further development to occur before the lightbulb was ready for everyday use. The kinks and errors were progressively worked out of the system by the discovery that a more vacuum-sealed bulb would reduce the blackening effect. Heinrich Geissler, a physicist, was one of the first to create a powerful pump system however it still was not good enough to be the household object that it is today. The breakthrough arrived when Thomas Edison managed to work in a vacuum through the use of a sprengle pump. By heating up the bulb at the same time as pumping it, Edison caused for a perfect vacuum. The filament has also changed into a carbonized paper known as paper Bristol board. The filament changed again in 1883 when Edison discovered bamboo as a potential conductor. Edison had Bamboo imported from Japan, had it cut into strips and carbonized. Initially the bamboo was electroplated directly to the lead in wires, however this was changed later when carbon paste was used instead. The next, and near final, breakthrough for the bulb came in 1902 when a Georgian scientist called Werner von Bolton discovered that using a metal filament called Tantalum would make an excellent filament. The properties of tantalum allowed it to be heated to a very high temperature without it destroying itself, allowing for it to create a very bright light while at the same time using less energy than any filament before its time. This was used in the first readily available commercial lightbulb until 1911. The years 1910 and 1911 are the two years where the modern day lightbulb made its appearance. This is because in 1910 a scientist called Irving Langmuir discovered that the best way to set a filament in a lightbulb to
decrease energy loss while increasing brightness is through a tight coil. Then in 1911 another scientist called William Coolidge formed Ductile Tungsten filaments by drawing out and heating regular tungsten. This metal quickly became the filament of choice due to its heat and energy properties causing it to be extremely efficient. IT is still used to this day. 4. Conclusions The main differences between lightbulbs, old and new, is that in the past there wasnt always a vacuum within the bulb that was needed to keep up a high bulb life. The filament within the bulb was not wound so tightly. The filament was not made of the same material through the ages. 5. References The General Electric Story 1999, by the Hall of History, Scientific American Magazine Men and Volts, John Hammond, 1941 Swan K R Sir Joseph Swan and the Invention of the Incandescent Electric Lamp. 1946 Longmans, Green and Co
