The Light bulbBy: Allyson Carter

• Changed society, history, and everyday life.

• replaced fire – torches, candles, and oil and gas lamps

The light bulb

Timeline of the electric light bulb

• 1801 – Sir Humphry Davy discovered platinum filaments.

• 1809 – Davy created the first electric carbon arc lamp.

• 1820 – Warren De la Rue created a lamp that worked but was to expensive for wide-spread use.

• 1850 – Edward Shepard invented an electrical incandescent arc lamp using a charcoal filament.

• 1854 – German Henricg Globel created the first true light bulb– used a carbonized bamboo

filament inside a glass bulb.

• 1875 – Herman Sprengel invented the mercury vacuum pump– Made it possible to get a good

vacuum inside a bulb.

• 1875 – Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans patented a light bulb.

• 1878 - Sir Joseph Wilson Swan invented a light bulb that lasted for 13.5 hrs. – used a carbonized cotton filament.

Timeline Continued• 1879 - Thomas Alva Edison invented

a light bulb that burned for 40 hrs. – placed filament in an oxygen-less

bulb.– His ideas were based on the 1875

patent he purchased from Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans.

• 1880 - Edison continued to improved his light bulb until it could last for over 1,200 hours – Used a bamboo-derived filament.

• 1903 - Willis Whitnew invented a filament that would not make the inside of a light bulb turn dark.– Used a metal-coated carbon

filament

• 1906 - The General Electric Company patented the use of tungsten filaments for use in light bulbs. – These filaments were expensive.

• 1910 - William David Coolidge invented an improved method of making tungsten filaments.– outlasted other types of

filaments– made costs practical.

• 1925 - The first frosted light bulbs were produced.

• 1991 – Philips Company invented a light bulb that lasts 60,000 hours.

• Thomas Edison – father of the modern-

day electric light bulb.

Diagram of a light bulb1. Outline of Glass bulb

2. Low pressure inert gas (argon, neon, nitrogen)

3. Filament

4. Contact wire (goes out of stem)

5. Contact wire (goes into stem)

6. Support wires

7. Stem (glass mount)

8. Contact wire (goes out of stem)

9. Cap (sleeve)

10. Insulation

11. Electrical contact

Social Impacts• Longer hours• Production continued after the sun sets.

• Consumption– 1885 - 300,000– 1914 - over 88.5 million– 1945 - 795 million

Impacts on Culture and Society

• Modern day inventions– Music– Cinema– Internet– Video games.

• We became an electrified world.

• An original carbon-filament bulb

• Thomas Edison’s original light bulbs.

Impact on the Environment• Use higher amounts of energy

• Push for more energy efficient options. – Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)

• Government legislation– The United States legislation.

• Resistance.– low cost of incandescent bulbs– negative health effects of CFLs

The Centennial Bulb - A 110 year old bulb!

• World’s longest-living light bulb

Besides two short moves and a few power outages, this hand-blown bulb with a carbon filament has burned steadily since June, 1901!

Live webcam of the Centennial Bulb

http://www.centennialbulb.org/photos.htm

Conclusion

•Longer production hours•Continue activities after the setting of the sun•Development of movies, internet, radio, etc.

Resources• Acton, J. Incandescent light bulb. Retrieved from

http://www.answers.com/topic/incandescent-light-bulb• Alelsto, Jo. (2009). Electric Light Bulb - The Origin of Modern T

echnology. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Electric- Light-Bulb---The-Origin-of-Modern-Technology&id=2093135

• Bellis, M. The Inventions of Thomas Edison: History of phonograph –lightbulb- motion pictures. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htm

• Centennial Light Bulb Committee. Livermore’s Centennial Light. Retrieved from http://www.centennialbulb.org/index.htm

• Fischetti, M. (2008). The Switch is On. Scienctific American, 298(3), 98-99.

• Light bulb. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/lightbulb.htm