Beginner's guide to light bulbs | LED, CFL, incandescent, neon & more

A simple task like picking a light bulb can be very intimidating because of all the options available to us. In this video, we’re going to discuss 6 of the most commonly used light bulbs, how they work, their pros and cons and uses.

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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:13 Incandescent bulbs
2:03 Halogen bulbs
3:02 CFLs
4:33 Neon lights
5:26 High intensity discharge of HIDs
6:22 LEDs
8:10 Conclusion

INCANDESCENT BULBS. This is the oldest type of light bulb. It contains a glass mount attached to the bulb’s base. One electrical contact touches the foot of the bulb and the other contact touches the screw threads. The two contacts and support wires hold up a tungsten filament. Tungsten has a very high melting point and high resistivity. This causes a buildup of heat and light.
They are very cheap to manufacture, they work with both direct current and alternating current, they have a warm, inviting quality and they are complimentary to skin tones. They also don’t contain any toxic gases. One of the disadvantages of these bulbs is their short lifespan. Finally, they are not energy efficient. Only 10% of the energy makes light, the rest is heat.

HALOGEN BULBS. These are incandescent bulbs with a small amount of halogen or salt-producing elements like iodine or bromine. Typically, hydrogen bromide gas is used in the bulb which captures stray tungsten atoms and deposits them back on the filament, thus increasing its life and keeping the glass clear.
The big advantage of halogen bulbs is the increased lifespan and that they are 30% more energy efficient. They’re also the closest approximation to natural daylight or white light. If you touch the bulb with your fingers, the salts and oils from your skin will cause heat to concentrate on the bulb and perhaps explode. You must use a paper towel to insert the bulb into fittings.

CFL COMPACT FLUORESCENT LIGHTS. A glass tube is filled with inert argon gas and a small amount of mercury vapor. An electric current is driven through the ends of the tube which excite the mercury atoms causing them to emit visible and invisible ultraviolet light. The latter excites a phosphor coating on the inside of the tube and then emits light. This is called fluorescence.
CFLs use 70% less energy than incandescent bulbs and can last 10 times longer, about 10,000 hours. The disadvantage is that it takes longer to turn on. The EPA recommends disposing of old CFLs at qualified recyclers instead of throwing them in the trash.

NEON LIGHTS. Sealed glass tubes or bulbs with a metal electrode at each end are filled with a low pressure gas. When an electric current is driven through the ends of the tube, electrons excite the gas which releases a characteristic wavelength of photon or color of light.
Neon signs typically outlive incandescent bulbs because it doesn’t have a filament that can burn out. It also doesn’t require a high temperature metal to produce free electrons, so they don’t waste much electricity.

HIGH INTENSITY DISCHARGE OF HID. These contain a quartz arc tube with two tungsten electrodes. Light is produced by creating an electric arc through an ionized gas. This sits in a larger glass bulb that may be clear or coated with a phosphor.
High intensity discharge lamps are more efficient than incandescent and fluorescent lamps and have a longer lifespan. They produce a much more intense light.

LED LIGHT EMITTING DIODE. Unlike solar panels which use silicon and germanium, LED diodes use compounds like gallium arsenide, gallium phosphide and indium phosphide since they emit light. When a voltage is applied across the junction holes from the p-type region and electrons from the n-type region enter the junction and recombine to enable the current to flow. Energy is released in the form of light photons.
They are the most energy efficient, they have a very long lifespan, about 20,000-30,000 hours, and they do not burn out. They don’t require a ballast, they are quiet, dimmable, and have no warm up time. One of the disadvantages of LEDs is their cost. They are more expensive than traditional light sources. The market is also flooded with cheap LEDs that do not last as long as they claim they will.
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