Why an electric bulb needs to be vacuumed? Can we light up a bulb in the
space without enclosing in the glass bulb?
Asked by:
Muhammad Nasir
Answer
An incandescent light bulb contains a thin wire filament (usually tungsten) that glows hot
when an electric current is run through it. In the presence of oxygen, the filament would
burn up as a result of the high temperature. A glass bulb, then, is used to keep oxygen
away from the filament.
While a vacuum will work, any inert gas that inhibits combustion will also work. Since
the vacuum of space would have no oxygen, a bare filament WOULD work as a light bulb
without the glass globe.
By the way, even without oxygen present a filament eventually deteriorates as its atoms
dissipate. The presence of an inert gas, such as Argon, actually inhibits this deterioration, allowing
higher filament temperatures and brighter light bulbs. So the glass globe can also help
enhance a bulb's capability.
Answered by:
Paul Walorski, B.A., Part-time Physics Instructor
'The strength and weakness of physicists is that we believe in what we can measure. And if we can't measure it, then we say it probably doesn't exist. And that closes us off to an enormous amount of phenomena that we may not be able to measure because they only happened once. For example, the Big Bang. ... That's one reason why they scoffed at higher dimensions for so many years. Now we realize that there's no alternative... '