how does the fluorescent light bulb work

Instructions: The animation below (1:04) shows a step-by-step depiction of how fluorescent lamps provide light. Contact points on the outside of the tube carry electricity into the bulb. So, change of frequency, or change of energy status, is called fluorescence and a bulb that uses this principle is called a fluorescent bulb.Ī fluorescent bulb consists of a glass tube with a phosphorus coating, a small amount of inert gas (usually argon or krypton), mercury, and a set of electrodes. Fluorescence is absorbing UV light in the phosphorous and giving out visible light. So without that phosphorous coating in there, a fluorescent bulb would not work. It absorbs UV light and gives out visible light. So that is absorbed, and that phosphorous coating will give out visible light. And those particles that are coated have a unique ability to absorb this UV light that is released when the mercury atoms are coming to the ground state. The inside wall is coated with a different material, a special material called phosphorous. But you know this tube is coated on the inside.

Remember, UV light is what comes out when the mercury atoms are coming back to the ground state. And then when they are coming back to the ground state, they have to release that excess energy that they absorbed, and they release it as non-visible UV light. When you generate that arc between two electrodes, on the two sides of that tube, that arc excites these mercury atoms to a higher state. Just an argon plus krypton mixture, and you spark it with a little bit of mercury in there. The inert gasses are argon or an argon plus krypton mixture. And you pass electric current, and that creates an arc between the two electrodes, and that tube is filled with inert gasses. These fluorescent bulbs that you are seeing, the long tubes, basically have two electrodes on the sides. Please watch the following 2:19 presentation about fluorescent bulbs: Fluorescence is the phenomenon in which absorption of light of a given wavelength by a fluorescent molecule is followed by the emission of light at longer wavelengths. These bulbs are highly efficient compared to incandescent bulbs. The fluorescent lamp is a major advancement and a commercial success in small-scale lighting since the original tungsten incandescent bulb.

How does the fluorescent light bulb work