Difference between LED & Regular Light Bulbs
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It seems that you can't just go looking for a regular, plain light bulb anymore without being met with labels about lumens, halogen, LED etc. In the past, for me, I would ignore these labels. All I wanted was a bulb that would light the room. Often I would go so far as to bring the old bulb with me to the shop so that I could simply show it to a member of staff and happily walk out with a new replacement bulb. I did not think to consider how long the bulb would last before I would have to make this trip again or how much money this bulb would cost me in energy bills. It was all about ease of purchase for me. Who has time to be considering these types of things? As time has passed though, I have started to get the feeling of being left behind. Let me tell you what I have since learned about the difference between regular incandescent bulbs and the new LED bulbs. Then we will both be armed with the knowledge of these newly styled bulbs and know exactly what is on offer the next time we shop.
How does a regular Incandescent bulb work?
A regular traditional bulb is often referred to as an incandescent bulb. The word incandescent simply means that it gives off light as a result of being heated. The inside of an incandescent lightbulb contains filament, a conducting wire. This is typically Tungsten, a hard steel grey metal, as it has a high melting point of 3410°c. The word filament is taken from the latin word ‘filum’ meaning thread. The filament is the small thread like wire you can see on the inside of the bulb. It runs horizontally and is attached to two metal wires that run the length of bulb. These connecting wires will carry an electric current when the power is switched on.
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Thin metals will heat a lot quicker than thicker metals. It sounds surprising but inside a typical 60 watt incandescent bulb the filament tends to be about 2 metres long! It is wound into a coil to fit into the small space inside the glass bulb. The wire is long but it is extremely thin. This means it heats easily producing the light we see.
Although the Tungsten filament can handle extremely high temperatures in the right conditions it could still catch fire. These conditions are usually when heated extremely high and then mixed with oxygen. It is for this reason that the inside of these incandescent bulbs are filled with a gas, typically argon, that removes any dangerous conditions.
The reason regular incandescent bulbs are not energy efficient is that when heated it is only actually about 10% of this heat that will produce visible light to the human eye, meaning the other 90% is wasted.
Regular Incandescent light bulbs are cheap, easy to make and they do the job.
How does an LED bulb work?
The name LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. A Diode is a small specialized electronic component. They allow an electric current to flow over them in one direction. The conductor material of the diodes are usually aluminum, gallium and arsenide. The flow of the electrons across this material will produce light. This way produces much less heat than a regular incandescent bulb and therefore produces light much more efficiently.
Essentially LED’s are just tiny lightbulbs. They all fit together easily on an electric circuit and because they don’t use the heated filament to produce light like that of the incandescent bulb they don’t burn out as easily. They therefore use less energy than the traditional bulb and they last longer.
How we got here..
Incandescent bulbs are the original form of electric lighting and have been in use for over 100 years. The first home to be lit by an electric bulb was that of Joseph Wilson Swan. His house in Gateshead, England, was illuminated using an electric light bulb in 1880. 1880 was the year he received a patent for the light bulb. Though, just as Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison created such an amazing invention in 1880, in 2014 three men were receiving a Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the blue diode. The green and red diode had been around for a long time but these alone could not produce a bright white light. Is this now the time of the LED light?
Regular Incandescent bulbs are measured in Watts. This is the rate at which the bulb consumes energy. LED bulbs are measured in Lumens. This is the unit of ‘Luminous Flux’ or the amount of visible light that is emitted. Something to consider and worry not next time you are dazzled by the amount of new labels on the light bulbs!