The hand of man and natural source of light is the sun; the gigantic fiery mass that produces illumination to the solar system, including the earth; along with heat and radiation. Our consciousness has no doubt that the sun is central and stationary in the system. In addition, the rotations on their own axes and the revolutions around the sun itself, the Earth and other planets, would intuitively fluctuate the availability of illumination. Consequently, day and night arose.
IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS LIGHT
Thousands of years before science was organized, fire was discovered. He introduced “smaller suns” for the heat and light they produced. The fire, however, is extinguished if the means of sustenance falls or runs out. Undoubtedly, a big problem with “artificial light” is its livelihood. Starting from many raw and localized materials, man began to find solutions to this problem; The “artificial light” should last longer. There will be no fuel discussion here, mind you.
WHO DID WHAT?
Thomas Edison is often honored for his work on incandescent light. However, the history books say that he did not actually invent the light bulb, but instead created the first commercially practical incandescent light. Many great scientists and inventors had worked before him with incandescent light. Edison’s interesting 1000 times tests make his side of the “artificial light” story more interesting than others. He was, and still is, very motivating.
Sir Humphry Davy invented “The Electric Arc Lamp”, using a glowing carbon; the light was weak and did not last long enough. That was the first “electric light” which was invented in 1802 with carbon as the filament. In 1840, platinum was used as the Warren de la Rue filament. It worked efficiently. In fact, longevity was improved, because platinum could work at high temperatures. But there was a major problem; commercial production was not feasible due to the high cost of platinum.
THE PROBLEM IS THE FILAMENT
There is no argument in this as getting the right filament was the real issue. The filament is the part of the devices that produces the light. When the electric current passes through the filament; glows This glow is caused by heat generated through the filament’s high resistance to the flow of electrical current.
There had to be an element that fit well combining the technical and commercial conditions. The carbon filament could irritatingly blacken the tubes and didn’t last long. Platinum is not economical due to its high cost. Even if it could withstand the heat, a quality necessary for the production of light, the market price would never be friendly.
Edison and his team even cobbled together carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1,200 hours. It was the beginning of commercially manufactured light bulbs and the formation of Thomas Edison’s company; Edison Electric Light Company, in 1880. The company marketed the new product. That was never the end of the story.
TUNSGTEN DID THE MAGIC
This is weirdly interesting! Edison himself knew that tungsten would be good as a filament for incandescent light, but he had no means of refining the element. Anyway, the tungsten did the magic! Another company, General Electric, had one of its scientists, William David Coolidge, work with tungsten and turned it into the best filament for incandescent light.
Why tungsten? Tungsten has a very high melting point of about 3422 degrees Celsius. For a typical incandescent light bulb, the tungsten filament operates at approximately 2,500 degrees Celsius. Its boiling point is around 5555 degrees Celsius. Its density is 19.25 g/cubic cm. Also, it doesn’t cost as much as platinum, which makes it commercially relevant.
Although, “artificial light” has passed that stage, however, the element-tungsten did the magic. Solved the bulb filament problem!