Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Unique History of the Light Bulb

!±8± A Unique History of the Light Bulb

Most people assume that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. This is only partially true however. Historically speaking, many people helped developed the modern incandescent bulb. Though Thomas Edison's achievements were by far the most significant, there are several others that deserve some credit.

Important People In The Life Of A Light Bulb

Sir Humphrey Davy is the first person to create artificial light. While conducting experiments Davy passed an electric arc of energy between two poles. The resulting "light" had a short life but nonetheless contributed to the science of electricity.

In 1820 a fellow named Warren De la Rue also tried to create the incandescent light bulb. Using a platinum coil, la Rue passed a current of electricity through a tube. This successful resulted in a light "bulb" or sorts. However, the platinum coil used proved way too expensive to mass-produce. Thus la Rue's creation served more as a research tool than anything else.

Still searching for the perfect bulb, Frederick de Moleyns stepped up to the plate in 1841. He used powdered charcoal filters as a conductor for light energy. He is the first person granted a patent for creating incandescent lamps. Then, Edward Shepard less than a decade later used a charcoal filament to create an incandescent lamp. Like its predecessors, this light was short-lived. Around the same time a man named Joseph Swan also started using carbon as filaments. Carbon provided a lower cost and more efficient filament material than other metal alternatives.

In 1854 a German worker created a filament using carbonized bamboo. This successfully produced an incandescent electric bulb. The light bulb had the same problem as its predecessors however. Short life spans seemed to plague the early inventors of light for many years before Edison stepped on to the scene. In 1860 Joseph Swan displayed a decent light bulb using carbonized filaments. His problem however, was failure to create a proper vacuum and enough electricity to product a lasting light.

Thomas Edison Enters the Light Bulb Scene

Finally Thomas Edison, after thousands of experiments, in 1879 figures out that carbonized paper filament produces a lasting light bulb. Thomas Edison's bulb produced light for almost 15 hours. Thus, he is credited with producing the first effective and useful incandescent bulb.

Thomas Edison tried more than 6,000 different plant species before he discovered the one that would work as a proper filament. A few years later a gentleman named Lewis Latimer patented a process that allowed carbon filaments to be manufactured more efficiently. His process extended the life of Edison's carbon filaments, producing an even longer lasting light bulb.

Thomas Edison of course never stopped working on the light bulb. After creating the first incandescent light bulb to last, he worked on creating the first useful incandescent lamp. Thankfully many other researchers continued to refine Edison's work. Because of this, there are many different varieties of bulb available today.

Let's take a peak at some of the inventions that followed the first incandescent bulb.

New Discoveries in Incandescence

The journey of the light bulb did not stop with Edison. In the early 1900s researchers discovered that tungsten filaments were more efficient for producing long lasting light that carbon ones. Now tungsten is the standard for light bulb filaments, even in modern times.

Today the light bulb has evolved into a work of art. There are many different categories of light bulb today, aside from the traditional incandescent. Some of the more popular varieties include:

Full spectrum light bulbs Automotive LED bulbs Compact fluorescent light bulbs Halogen light bulbs Projector light bulbs Tanning bed bulbs Specialty light bulbs

As you can see, the light bulb has come a long way. Thanks to the hard efforts of many scientists, the light bulb has evolved into a complex creation!


A Unique History of the Light Bulb

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Friday, November 25, 2011

The History of Electricity

!±8± The History of Electricity

The Beginning of Electricity in America

Benjamin Franklin began experimenting with electricity in America and documented the experiments.  He was able to finance his extensive work by selling off his belongings.  He is known for flying a kite in a storm that had a wet string and a key tied to the end of it.  When he observed sparks leaping from the key to his hand he understood that lightning was a natural form of electricity.

Alessandro Volta of Italy invented the electric cell in 1800, making it easier for scientists to study electricity and its various applications.  When the electric cells are connected together a battery is created.

Alexander Graham Bell is known to have invented the telephone.  Bell's worked as a teacher for deaf students professionally which explains his fascination with different ways to transmit sounds.  During his experiments with sound transmission he began to use electricity, which eventually led to his success with the telephone.

Thomas Doolittle, a mill worker from Connecticut created the method that was used to create the first hand drawn copper wire that strong enough to use as a telegraph wire.  A man by the name of Michael Faraday discovered that electricity was created when a magnet was passed through ordinary copper wire.  This is the application that is used in America's power plant to generate electricity that is delivered to customers across the country.  Both the electric generator and are built on this principle.  A generator takes mechanical energy and converts it to electricity.  On the other hand, motors convert electrical energy to mechanical energy.

While Thomas Edison experimented with electricity he was able to invent the electrical light bulb in addition to many other gadgets.  His biggest challenge when creating the light bulb was to find the right material to use for the filament.  He settled on carbon soaked cotton thread.  The carbon was used to prevent the cotton thread from burning.  The thread glowed as the electricity traveled through it.  As soon as the popularity of the light bulb caught on he turned his attention to the development of power plants that would be run the light bulbs.  The first power plant that he built began operating in 1882 and served 85 New York city customers.

A major turning point occurred in 1895.  The power plant that was built by Edison was only capable of transporting power a short distance since it used direct current of DC.  The power was transmitted approximately just one square mile surrounding the power plant.  With the development of alternating current or AC in 1895 the plant was able to transport power over 200 miles from the newly built power plant in Niagara Falls.

Electricity was rather slow to catch on in America.  Many people were excited by the new inventions, but some were afraid of the electrical current and hesitated to have it installed in their houses.  Some people were unable to afford the price of the service.  Electricity was blamed for causing the end of simple living.  Many people felt that electric lights were less romantic than the gas light they were used to.

Many expos and fairs often featured exhibits that displayed the recent inventions that used electricity as their power source.  The 1893 Columbian Exposition that was held in Chicago displayed 5,000 arc lights and 90,000 incandescent lamps.  People that visited the expo had the opportunity to view or ride the different electrified exhibits which included three cranes, several water fountains, a moving sidewalk, elevators and a street car system that was created by General Electric.

The Pan-American Exposition that was held in Buffalo, NY in 1901 used electricity as the theme.  An electric tower that was 400 feet in height, displaying 40,000 lights was featured in addition to the Electricity Building which was home to a huge exhibit of electrical appliances.

Power became accessible by more people as small electrical companies started to spring up around the country.  A number of the smaller companies started to merge together and form large conglomerates, the largest ones being General Electric and Westinghouse.  These two companies started building power plants that were equipped with generators that used fossil fuel combustion and steam to produce electricity.  Other plants were being built that used kinetic power to generate power like water or wind.  Once nuclear power was developed, the power that was released as nuclear reactions occurred was used to create electricity.

The demand for electricity grew by 12% each year for the first thirty years of the twentieth century.  In order to keep up with today's demand for electricity, renewable resources are being implemented to supply the much needed power.  Many people are using solar power, hydropower and wind power are being put to use in order to meet the demands of consumers and to protect the environment.


The History of Electricity

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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Brief History of Light Bulbs

!±8± A Brief History of Light Bulbs

That, along with the wheel, the light bulb is one of the most important inventions of the world 'and if you can see, as the night rather than drive, then no doubt see the light bulb without a doubt the most important.

The light bulb as we know it today is a product of the work of more than 10 noteworthy inventors from Germany, Great Britain and the United States for a period of 182 years.

It all started with an English chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1809, which, by noticeElectricity from a battery, but a strip of carbon glowed. This was the origin of the first arc lamp. Humphrey died in 1829, about 120 years before the artificial light, it was so crucial in the invention, light up the trenches of the Second World War.

Over 11 years later Davy, the English inventor, Warren De la Rue has a tube that emits light from an electric current through a filament of platinum contained in a vacuum tube. While a successful model, thisimpractical for widespread use because of the cost of the platinum filament.

In 1854, all hats were off to Germany. Henricg Globel, created by the watchmaker, the first true light bulb with a filament of carbonized bamboo placed in a container. 'World' the term 'light bulbs world "could be called after Henricg, even if they are not free to say.

Another German, Hermann Sprengel provided another step forward, the invention ofMercury vacuum pump, a strong negative pressure inside the bulb possible. This allows a longer life because it removes the effects of oxidation on the filament.

The most famous of all the inventors who had a hand in developing the light bulb and often (mistakenly) handed over the crown of the invention of the lightbulb, the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, who continued pioneering other important inventions as the phonograph and the kinetophone is (talking about the film). For involvement inDevelopment of the bulb, he invented a carbon filament, which for 40 hours, put in the absence of oxygen less bulb. By 1880 he had managed to prolong the life of his lamp over 1200 hours with a filament of bamboo stems.

Tungsten bulb dipped his head in the world in 1906, when General Electric Company of America patented the use thereof. At that time, but these filaments were costly.

In 1910, an American physicist named William David Coolidge (William or hisfriends) came up with an improved method of making the tungsten filaments. His improved method greatly extended the life of existing filaments and made them much more economical.

The light bulb as we know it was made and continues to light up the dark nights.

In 1991 Phillips invented a way of increasing the life of a bulb to well over 60,000 hours. That's almost 7 full years of illumination. Even more if you switch it off when you go to bed.


A Brief History of Light Bulbs

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