How Modern Light Bulbs Work

[@QuantumFracture]

This video is BRILLIANT (and yes, this is the tecnical term)

[@RRBuilderYT]

600th like btw

[@hectobreak8097]

¡Crespo! :D

[@uvuvwevwevweonyetenyebweug5656]

Madre mia crespito, que haces aqui??!!! Me encantan tus videos

[@jjtt]

QuantumFracture Crespo!!! ¿Cómo estás?

[@cesarmeza8094]

llegué tarde

[@MatiasAlric]

Electrons have so many parties... I don't really understand why people say they are so negative...

[@IDecisive]

Because they are a bunch of pretentious, elitists, negatively influencing others as they hang out within their own circles.

[@bradirv]

Its because play elec-tricks on people I know where the door is I'll leave

[@mr.boomguy]

Me: No thank you

[@Mazsi1201]

Nah but honestly it would be mich better of we assigned the positive charge to the electron and the negative charge to the proton, would be more intuitive (as now the positive current usually is electrons wandering in the opposite direction to the current, which is strange)

[@EpicHardware]

looooool

[@darinalitvina]

"Unless [cancer's] what you want, in which case you use a tanning bulb..." SAVAGEEE!

[@ozzie_goat]

All things in moderation.

[@madLphnt]

lol...BUUURN.

[@lddevo88]

I see what you did there^

[@ozzie_goat]

lddevo88 All of a sudden, so did I.

[@madLphnt]

:)

[@Smokey94462]

How come a light bulb doesn't appear above my head whenever I have a good idea?

[@SEPolicy]

Maybe it's because you don't have very good ideas.

[@JustinBakerDeDav]

This is for www.reddit.com/r/shittyaskscience DOITDOITDOIT

[@FireHax0rd]

osmi galvez wow bright insight, but could you perhaps enlighten us a little better?

[@heymrhimr]

FireHax0rd Haha en*light*en

[@heymrhimr]

***** Well that comment just brightened my day!

[@shurdi3]

We studied all of this in school. You explained it in 2 minutes, better than my teacher did in 90 minutes... and I was the only one in class that understood it.

[@anyasah1868]

trueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[@spaceface105]

Wow, just wow. I have never known that such a large subject could be explained with such detail in such a short period of time. Thank you MinutePhysics, for teaching me physics in minutes.

[@TheStellaruniversexm]

While schools don't teach one tenth of that in an entire year.

[@spaceface105]

***** I agree. Schools basically keep repeating one thing, and in the end of the year you haven't learned much.

[@psypsy751]

Awesomesauce. And that is the technical term.

[@kaiserkase3621]

Cool beans... technical term.

[@wangabo123]

Can i purchase these in Costco?

[@AnirbanChatterjeeIndia]

Wonderful! Love you, Minute Physics. :)

We've all learned how regular light bulbs work in school but this video teaches you how halogens, LEDs and so on work. Exciting!

[@summerlinryan96]

It's amazing just how simply and clearly MinutePhysics is able to explain things.

[@GabeNewellDFTBA]

Unless you want cancer!

[@HighestRank]

So I'm rubbing my bulbs with sunblock.

[@darinalitvina]

I KNOW THAT WAS SAVAGEEE!

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

+Lord GabeN I've got an easier way, it is called smoking.

[@psynostic]

+TheAres1999 For how many years?

[@GabeNewellDFTBA]

psynostic 1 pack a day for 5 years.

[@UPlayNetwork]

Very informative, the halogen ones are the best ,but to get cancer from a bulb, what are the odds of that happening

[@IceMetalPunk]

If it's a tanning bulb, which are specifically designed to pump out massive amounts of UV light until your body starts defending against it with pigment? Not so low.

[@55RKbrickwall35]

Tanning bulbs emit UV light, which is known to cause cancer. Similar to being exposed to the Sun for long periods of time, tanning bulbs can lead to skin cancer.

[@SuperSMT]

Tanning bulbs give off large amounts of UV radiation, the same stuff that the Sun gives off and gives you skin cancer,

[@DoingDennis]

Very likely. since Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers

[@DaeOh]

According to some anti-CFL propaganda I've read, if your CFL has cracks in the coating.

[@emulsion_]

Electron spa. I want to go there.

[@5up3rp3rs0n]

Electron party. I want to go there.

[@emulsion_]

Logo electron comment, don't do that logo.

[@NikhilVetam]

Logo Hi, FilmRiot has been calling you since years. Have you been to their channel yet?

[@NikhilVetam]

Nathan Kramer What do you think? ;-)

[@hafabee]

You might have a negative time there!

[@14shyuga14]

That video is close to perfection!

[@LunarDelta]

Wow, I never knew my photo appeared in a minutephysics video, that's cool! =D

[@m-yday]

Which Photo!? xD

[@LunarDelta]

The one credited to me. XD It's kind of hard to see on the dark background but I don't mind.

[@nightthemoon8481]

+PiccoloNamek where?

[@LunarDelta]

+Night the moon The picture of the red green and blue LEDS at around 0:26 seconds.

[@nightthemoon8481]

PiccoloNamek OMG YOU GOT ON A MINUTE PHYSICS VIDEO!! YOU CAN BRAG ABOUT SO MUCH!!

[@yasminali7578]

24 years old and I have finally learned how light bulbs work it's never too late

[@ryanjames9275]

He makes the most complicated things seem so simple to understand xD

[@manuakasam]

Just commenting to let you know that these kind of videos are just awesome. Bringing physics to people in such an easy and understandable fashion is just great. I wish I had these kind of tools available by the date I attended school...

[@ddmagee57]

But MinutePhysics, you didn't explain your intro picture! What's going on with the new bulbs made with the twisty tubes that have become so popular? Is that a fluorescent tube twisted so it doesn't take up much room?

[@binarycat1237]

yes

[@shreshtha786]

Dennis Magee the modern bulbs are all basically discharge tubes to generate cathode rays. But we can't use very long tubes every so it's twisted to make space

[@DiThi]

Exactly. They also have some additional electronics to make it turn on quickly.

[@ddmagee57]

Thanks!

[@ddmagee57]

thanks!

[@MadTourist]

Minute Guys, Thanks for all your work, my family and I love everything science and my ten year old son just eats up everything you guys do! Appreciate all the good work, keep it up! Thanks Marcus.

[@dropkickthunderbook8450]

The stadium at 1:40 is Melbourne Sporting and Aquatic Center, fun fact

[@rand0m4productions]

I'm always amazed at how much you can explain so well and so quickly.

[@KoolStar95]

What a bright idea for a minute physics episode ^^

[@TheSolitaryEye]

We've really come around to the power of the LED since this video was made back in 2014. They're everywhere now, not just dance floors and christmas lights. Super efficient way to produce light.

[@LordSwordbreak]

Best. Minute. Physics. In a loooong time :) Love it!

[@BimDaTitanicNerd]

This is really educational! Thank you 😊

[@dangerouslytalented]

so how do we get the different colors in the LEDs?

[@gabllam1]

by coating the surface with a coloured transparent coat.

[@thestultavekidjo]

I3oxman Yes, but ... how work the multi-colour leds ? oO

[@trppmdm]

Bakkare Red green and blue lights are put into one and their color can be modified using modifiable electric current.

[@gabllam1]

Bakkare a multi-coloured led has 3 small leds a red, green and blue and a microcomputer to control them so it could power red and blue fully to get a purple colour, or blue at 50% and red at 100% to get a different colour.

[@thestultavekidjo]

I3oxman +trppmdm Ok, thanks ^^

[@InsaneDeck]

Just when I was starting to watch this video, my mom saw lamps on the screen (she doesn't understand english) and asked me "What's the difference between a conventional lamp and a LED lamp?". Then I paused the video and started to explain the differences of the main types of lamp (fluorescent, incandescent and LED). Then she left and I resumed the video. Turns out that my explanations were correct, but way more simple so my mom could understand.

[@TheQuietTyper]

Neat, I knew how incandescent and florescent light bulbs worked (at least I knew it's electricity through a mercury gas) but I didn't know that it was the coating on the bulb that gave it the name florescent. I also didn't know that tanning bulbs and florescent bulbs were almost the same, only with different coatings.

[@jasonslade6259]

Florescent Hg lamps technically don't need the coating to give off visible light and would still be called Florescent Lights even if they didn't have the coating. However, since Mercury Florescence is mostly in the Green and UV parts of the spectrum... its not terribly appealing to live in a green tanning booth for too long. The coating on the inside of the bulb absorbs light in the UV ranges and re-emits this energy in a more broad-spectrum light, filling in the non-green wavelengths to give you white light. Its a combination of the Florescence of the Mercury and the Florescence of the Phosphor coating combined that creates the desired effect.

[@ADG2988]

This was really well done.

[@StephenTack]

I love that you reference Tesla in the end spiel, and make no mention of the jackass to whom is commonly attributed the "invention" of the incandescent light bulb. :-)

[@Narcissist86]

Hate him all you want, Edison and his company did improve the incandescent light bulb and commercialize it into the form we see in wide use. That's not a fact that bad business practices and other underhanded tactics change.

[@hproductions4500]

This guy makes it so simple! Good on you mate.

[@radishraccoon3657]

Brilliant, thank you :)

[@CEHepp]

At 1:39 you included a picture of the airplane hangar at Hill Air Force Base. The lamps pictured are not arc lamps as you were showing just before. They actually use the very rare sulfur lamp. There are no electrodes in sulfur lamps because of how corrosive sulfur is. In fact, if you go to the sulfur lamp wikipedia page, the same image of Hill Air Force Base is included in the article.

[@SunSchrody]

And this sums up everything I didn't understand in highschool in a simple way.

[@Yui714]

A high school teacher could've spent 5 years trying to teach me this and still fail. Seriously, there is a huge problem with our academic system. They would've been better off teaching me one thing instead of not teaching me thousands of things. Now that I've been out for almost a decade I actually enjoy learning. If only the education system could properly represent eduction in all its exciting glory.

[@SunSchrody]

Yui714 Yeah, I'm in University now and I finally understand that what we learn in class is only a tiiiiny peek at what there's to know. Instead of seeing what we learn in class as what I have to study I now see it as "a link to the web page I have to read" lol. I note refs and words and I go do my own education. Works much better. Should have known in highschool.

[@viermidebutura]

Yui714 the so called teaching in this video is not really teaching is just a very very short and general summary ur teacher wasn't wrong it was u because in order to understand: 1.incandescent light bulb u need to know electricity and magnetism black body readiation and quantum mechanics 2. florescent bulbs - electricity and magnetism thermodynamics atomic physics and quantum mechanics 3. sodium mercury and halide lamps same as above 4. LED's - electricity and magnetism quantum mechanics and atomic physics and even more things like mathematics chemistry and material science so yea ut teacher was doing the right thing

[@yubisakimilktea]

viermidebutura So CrashCourse's chemistry lessons are not enough to cover this, in terms of high school level education? And Quantum Physics isn't a course in high school... Afterall, were going by high school standards of education, though then again, I am assuming Yui714 is speaking of the American educational system, so I may be wrong on that part.

[@Yui714]

viermidebutura You don't have to teach a person about the mechanics inside of a grandfather clock in order to teach them how to read time. This video provided all relevant information for the subject. If we dig any deeper we a no longer talking about light bulbs but something else entirely such as magnetism thermodynamics. I agree that physics and chem are necessary subjects, but many students only take basic science courses. What then does a student learn if not science? Pretty much nothing but a waste of a few years in which they could've at least showed us this video on light bulbs :P

[@LordSandwichII]

That's the best explanation of how LEDs work that I have ever seen!

[@MichaelTuckerLA]

Wow. Came here because in CGP Grey's podcast episode #4 they talk say "wasn't Henry's most recent video about light bulbs?" Dates check out. And so it was.

[@valanthonycalape2094]

I MISS YOU MINUTEPHYSICS! LOVE THIS CHANNEL

[@AllyHutch6]

i have always wondered how all the different modern lightbulbs work however I have been to lazy to google it so thanks for making this video

[@chcltninja]

Thanks for the upload.

[@awesom6588]

that comment about the UV light giving cancer was kinda funny

[@EdwardStickywicket]

Wow... Perfect timing for this video, seeing as I have a Lighting Exam coming up!

[@insanedude00]

I need you to tell me how we as a species found radio waves. How did we realize they are there and when did we learn what they were used for?

[@Vitorruy1]

Heinrich Hertz discovered them

[@gemmatribbia1932]

Thanks so much for making this video, I was freaking out over how light bulbs work which I need to know for a science assessment and watched this, Now I understand it all :)

[@simpox94]

1:25 - 1:33 :'D so unexpected and so funny :'D

[@BerserkPk]

one of the better videos good job

[@GothicSilverWolf666]

Haha...his little jab at tanning beds xD

[@kourii]

I don't know if it's a jab so much as a true statement about the world ;D

[@inanjarif1388]

Wow. Both of your comments have 78 likes,but one of them is a reply. I've never seen a reply and an original comment at the smae amount of likes.

[@seneca983]

If you have atopic skin you might actually want that.

[@wolfshares]

Nice video.

[@toshineon]

Ever since traditional light bulbs were banned in Europe, I've used Halogen bulbs instead. Just because they're very similar and doesn't take several minutes to light up fully, unlike many common low-energy bulbs.

[@gluino]

LED bit was simplified. It is correct for colored LEDs for indicator applications, but not for lighting use. Lighting grade LEDs do typically use phosphors to convert most of the blue light from the LED into reds and greens so that the overall output looks white.

[@alenfishman9365]

Minute physics, reminding me regularly that I don't know shit and I'm dumb. Thanks.

[@shreedhar333]

Hi Minutephysics! I had always thought about how these bulbs were different and at some point, must have even studied about them separately. But this has been the first time that I actually know how they are different yet somewhat similar from a physics point of view. Thank you so much for making an effort to succinctly explain all of these well under 3 minutes.

[@TheyCallMeGawd]

How can 72 people not like this? Anti-light?

[@FKasa]

Goth/emo?

[@mark12033]

heartless

[@TheBeetrootman]

***** Gingers? (JK)

[@Exactuallyable]

They're still in the dark age.

[@krystaking1858]

I'm pretty sure that there are people who just click form video to video with the main goal of disliking everything.

[@AndrewGarzagch]

Your videos are so simple and impressive. They are a joy to watch.

[@MrFivefivefivesix]

Huh, so that's why LEDs last longer.

[@kylesowry7219]

don't all things that start at parties last long? say, 70-80 years?

[@ruiyingwu893]

+Kyle Sowry im half confused on what you sayin

[@RoflZack]

+Ruiying Wu Conception

[@ruiyingwu893]

+Zachary Taylor ???

[@RoflZack]

+Ruiying Wu A kid

[@ohheycrystalhey]

oh man the halogen bulb explanation made me so happy. i will always imagine halogen lightbulbs as the happiest and most polite of all bulbs

[@patu8010]

Partying electrons. Now I've heard everything.

[@ym160]

Thank you for making this, quite interesting

[@RoneyBelhassof]

Great! I didn't knew how most lamps works! Adorei! Eu não sabia como muitas das lâmpadas funcionam!

[@sasuke4612]

I always love your videos I learn all the small and neat things about physics.

[@VKingMD]

I like the if you want to get cancer use a tanning bed thing. haha

[@iconforu2c]

that was a really interesting video MP......thanks so much for taking the time to make them, the way you break them down into simple terms helps so much.

[@ten.seconds]

Most of the terms are the actual terms used in physics. They do talk about "excited electrons" all the time.

[@Eltro920]

I like the "technical terms".

[@Kasseenzettel]

No need for quotes, he was serious.

[@Eltro920]

Kasseenzettel I know he was being serious. It's just the technical terms don't sound very professional.

[@Kasseenzettel]

It was more for the general audience. People tend to just laugh when they hear it and don't realise that those are indeed the technical terms.

[@מידןטמיר]

please make videos more often. You make the best videos, and even if im familiar to a subject i learn a bit more from your videos, and even if i dont i really enjoy them

[@vaxivop1]

Henry, what is the reason to use different light bulbs? Like it seems that Sodium, Mercury and metal-halide lamps are just a simpler version of fluorescent lamps, so why use fluorescent lamps in the first place?

[@IceMetalPunk]

Cost.

[@Mtaalas]

Do _you_ want mercury vapors in your lamps? Or do you wish to get rid of mercury as a material used in lamps? So we're making a transfer towards LED:s from fluorescent and other type of lights.

[@ShiJiahe]

The color and shade of light emitted by Sodium lamps looks pale, and is too bright to be used for homes, schools, etc.

[@thefailurezone4689]

Because the different kinds of lamps have different-colored (or tinted) light. Some is just pure white while others are more yellowy, and I even had a lamp with light that was slightly blue.

[@montycantsin8861]

I agree with IceMetalPunk and MagnuSSungaM. I would further add that the cost becomes the important issue to the people running Stadiums and other huge spaces. At some point, the cost of getting, storing and replacing all these little bulbs becomes more expensive than running a smaller number of enormous, very bright, but energy inefficient bulbs.

[@commentcommentaryman9434]

I love these videos so much! I learn something new every time! Please keep making them!

[@austinbevis4266]

The sun works by having constant nuclear reactions that produce a lot of heat and light

[@onyx3933]

+austin bevis, indeed.

[@עדיברשי]

I am excited!

[@lonredstar6904]

And neon lights work by taking a noble gas (helium, neon, xenon, etc.) and passing an electrical current through it, depending on the gas, the colour is different.

[@451asians]

+Aeternitas Ankondrivah (No.4 Holder of darkness) lol i had the same exact reaction

[@naota3k]

Great video, been curious about the differences in bulbs.

[@Ral9284]

*This is enlightening :D* I beg all readers your pardon for the horrible pun *D:* #MinuteEarth #science #light

[@loftylazerus3007]

I know, I feel Brighter already :)

[@christopherchamberlain8477]

The quick and simple videos are brilliant!

[@ImTheCatman88]

Christopher Chamberlain Be careful, or else they`ll bring back those terrrrible 10 second clips

[@christopherchamberlain8477]

I liked the 10 second videos

[@kakostube2]

well i guess this is a holy video because it teach us about the light *:D* okay :c i deserve to die for this pun

[@mrohalmhain]

Thanks for this. I used it in class this week!

[@luccianodfs6711]

i learned about the types of light bulbs when i was curious about growing weed indoors :)

[@avavav1232]

nacha laica and... what was the best?

[@luccianodfs6711]

avavav1232 I use flourescent, but they all have their advantages and disadvantages

[@Mario_3402]

Short and informative 💯

[@Pierrot110194]

CVD - Chemical Vapour Deposition is the effect working in the halogen lamps, if anyone is interested in deeper understanding.

[@spaceface105]

You are a _nerd_ (that's the technical term), if anyone is interested in clarification.

[@benjamintarnacki5068]

spaceface105 not sure if troll or ignorant.....

[@Pierrot110194]

spaceface105 I just happen to enjoy chemistry and physics a lot, you got a problem with that?

[@MinerMovie]

Yes! more like this one! Explaining common items!

[@lordelliott42]

So, the gas in floresencent bulbs emits (basically) UV and visible light? Then the white coating CONVERTS UV to visible light? ( 1:16 "absorbs the ultraviolet light and re-emits it as visible light.") My question, assuming the above questions are answered positively, is that since the coating is white, does that mean it blocks the visible light initially emitted by the gas so that the only light we see from the bulb is converted UV light? o_O

[@Ddub1083]

It is a combination of both. Go to the wiki for fluorescent bulb... scroll down to the section on "Phosphors and the spectrum of emitted light" there you will find fluorescent lamp spectra which show that there are mercury emission lines.

[@lordelliott42]

You mean this? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp#Phosphors_and_the_spectrum_of_emitted_light The wiki doesn't really make clear how it is a combination of both. The statement, "The spectrum of light emitted from a fluorescent lamp is the combination of light directly emitted by the mercury vapor, and light emitted by the phosphorescent coating," could be interpreted in different ways. Btw, I have no idea what "mercury emission lines" means. I'm a smart guy, but this is outside my area.

[@Ddub1083]

lordelliott42 mercrucy emission lines are spectral lines which can determine the source of the light. For instance we can look at a spectrum of our sun and determine what elements it is composed of because those elements absorb particular frequencies of light....but they also emit frequencies too. The graphs in the bottom of the section show spectral responses at frequencies expected from Mercury emission, not from UV-Visible emission by way of the filter... Thus, at least some portion of the non-UV light "created" by mercury emission escapes out through the filter.

[@everythingelec14]

love his enthusiasm for science

[@symbolxchannel]

I prefer the light from incandescent bulbs to the fluorescent bulbs… Fluorescent bulbs are noisy, they take a lot of time to light up to their full potential and they alter colours! I get headache each time I stay in a room with fluorescent lights for too long… LED lights are excellent, but they are expensive and they also alter colours… But it is way better than fluorescent light!

[@kurtilein3]

fluorescents typically run at 50 hertz, some people notice that and find it uncomfortable. especially people in the autism spectrum notice it. but there are varieties that run at much higher frequency, which solves the problem. the thing about the colors only depends on the quality, its not generally true, and for quality fluorescents, it is false. the same with LEDs. cheap LEDs use blue light that passes through an orange fluorescent layer and is partially transformed, giving a mix of blue and orange, which looks white, but anything red looks strange under that light. quality white LEDs and quality fluorescents use a fine-tuned mix of up to 50 substances to get an incredibly close match to the spectrum of actual sunlight. basically all your concerns are based on experience with cheap, bottom-quality stuff.

[@symbolxchannel]

kurtilein3 We don't use cheap stuff in my house… Most of our lightbulbs are "full spectrum" incandescent lights (those imitating sun light). The only fluorescent light we have is the porch light. (I guess most business and schools are too cheap to buy quality lights…) But, about the LED, all LED have narrow spectrum… They can't offer a true white. I guess Aspergers syndrome is in the "autism" spectrum… Although unlike autism, Aspergers syndrome is more an advantage than a handicap.

[@BaggyMcPiper]

I dislike the light from all lightbulbs. Natural light is where it's at. When that's not available, though, I just use fluorescent bulbs.

[@unvergebeneid]

SymbolX Telling that to yourself kinda works until you try to find a girlfriend.

[@BobHutton]

Humphry Davy is generally credited with inventing an arc lamp, not a filament lamp. (He also developed what came to be known as the Davy Lamp, but it is an oil burning lamp).

[@46619TAB]

I tried the new CFL bulbs in my office and was pretty disappointed. While they didn't generate heat like standard bulbs the light emitted didn't last as long as a standard bulb IE the light produced became less after only a month or so to the point I was replacing the bulb with a new one. They're also very expensive and rules for disposing of them are unrealistic. In anticipation of the coming ban of standard bulbs, I've begun stockpiling them. They may produce heat, they may cost a few pennies more than CFLs to run but they LAST LONGER.

[@codediporpal]

You likely have a bad batch. They do exist. Only buy reputable brands. CFL's last far, far longer than incandescent. We replaced all ours 5 years ago and have only had *ONE* go bad in 5 years.

[@codediporpal]

Kevin Patrick Nonsense. Just do the math. CFL's put out 4 times the light for the same wattage. Electricity is about 16 cents per kilowatt hour. A high quality 25W CFL bulb costs about 4 dollars, and puts out the same visible light intensity as a 100W incandescent. With the CFL you're saving 1.2 cents per hour in electricity costs compared to incandescent. So, It only takes 333 hours of use until you've payed off the cost of the CFL bulb ENTIRELY from your energy cost savings. After that, even if your "thicker filament" bulb was free, you'd still be loosing money.

[@46619TAB]

codediporpal I've tried the 'bad batch' thing buying from different stores and I even bought one while on vacation. They ALL performed the same way, the brightness of the light began to fail after a month or so. I work on a drawing board. I have a tube fluorescent fixture for over all light and second light for detail lighting and tried the CFL in the latter. The lights are on for sometimes 8 hours a day, the tubes are 2 years old and still perform as new, the CFL is a fail. The standard 60 w bulb, despite the heat produced, lasts longer and will remain my first choice which is why I buy them whenever I'm in a store for anything.

[@WizardClipAudio]

CFL bulbs are a are a heath and ecological disaster in the works, for a whole variety of reasons. (I'm not going into it or going to reply to arguments about it because there is plenty of info readily available concerning this subject.) I hypothesize that people who primarily use CFL's are knocking roughly 20 years off of their normal life expectancy, however, time will tell. I use a plethora of solutions to light my house, but CFL's are not one of them. In part because they create interference which negatively effects the equipment in my home recording studio, and the concentrations of mercury in them which becomes very hazardous, if and when they break. I think it's stupid when I hear people say that the incandescent is a 19th century invention in a way to imply that it's age makes it inferior and that we shouldn't use it at all. Candles are thousands of years old,.. people still use them,.. lots of old inventions are still used. Vacuum tube transistors have been effectively replaced with solid state and micro processors, however, there are still applications where vacuum tubes are preferred over solid state products, such as high quality guitar amplifiers and such. An LED bulb isn't going to make my lava lamps work, either. I like my incandescent bulbs particularly in the cooler months because they help provide ambient heat from their locations and not having to solely rely on a single central heat source which is pulling multiples of the light bulb's load put together.This reminds me of those stickers on new TV's that say this TV will save you 27$ of energy costs a year over conventional CRT screens. So, if energy savings were my rationale for upgrading my television, hypothetically,.. then it would take at least 20 years for the TV to pay for itself in energy savings. Since energy costs rise, probably longer. (By the way, I like having flat panels, but I'm not letting go of my CRT's, willingly, either.) It seems to me that the banning of incandescent bulbs is an industry funded cop-out to reduce the load on our aging electrical grid as opposed to actually upgrading and improving it. It's one thing for lighting technology to improve and for people to gradually and voluntarily switch over like people did with televisions, but it's totally draconian to outright ban the production of another older technology, especially when it's the consumer who is paying for the product, and the energy that it uses. In the not too distant future I think CFL bulbs will become the universal symbol for bad ideas in contrast to the way we use incandescent bulbs to represent good ideas in cartoons.

[@pauljs75]

If incandescents are always outlasting your CFLs, you probably have a bad bit of noise in your electricity. AC is supposed to be a nice sine wave for the ballast to work right, but in your case it likely isn't. Noise on electrical lines is also the reason why you're not supposed to use CFLs on dimming circuits. If you plug in a radio you can probably hear the line noise (AM in particular), and it's likely any other electronics you have may also have a shortened life as well. (It's not just going to be your CFL bulbs.) Where the noise comes from? Could be a bad a bad transformer stepping down from the mains, bad wiring in the building, somebody else using something that causes noise in the lines (ie: welding equipment). If bad enough, you should call an electrician or the power company to figure out where the noise is coming from and possibly get it fixed.

[@danxiaxu3629]

Always loved your videos. In this episode, there is a mistake though. LEDs are not made of gallium (a metal with low melting temperature), but are made of gallium nitride (a compound semiconductor).

[@robin23200]

I thought a potato was used to ignite the light bulb

[@kings_grave]

I liked this video even though I don't even know how I ended up here. This was very brilliant

[@jubbafudgy3854]

Tanning booths have been banned in most places of australia. Guess we don't need them anyway.

[@styk0n]

Look, the nanny state strikes again!

[@john_hunter_]

styk0n it's all about managing our money. the more we keep people safe the less we have to pay to keep them healthy. By banning tanning beds we save money by reducing the risk of people getting cancer and eliminating the costs for their cancer treatment. oh and also it saves people from the risk of getting cancer, i guess that's a nice thing to do.

[@styk0n]

John Hunter It's sound reasoning, but my comment was satirical at best. I'm not an economist, nor am I a politician, so I don't think it's my place to speak about how our government is spending our money.

[@john_hunter_]

styk0n ok have a nice day

[@Breathingdeeper]

The 42in ledtv I bought with a sticker explaining how it'll cost is ~$15/year in electricity was the start. This will help explain to my roommate why led lights are the future and will tremendously save us money! Thank you minute physics!

[@Breathingdeeper]

Not even. This one was $400

[@Breathingdeeper]

Ok. Please help me understand how the LEDs are expensive if the 42in, made entirely of LEDs, was only $400 when I bought it about a year ago

[@Breathingdeeper]

Cheaper you say..? You just made an argument against your first claim that LEDs are EXPENSIVE to MAKE and install up above; now you're saying different? Please man, just go find someone else to woo with your vast technical knowledge

[@Breathingdeeper]

No shit Sherlock

[@Breathingdeeper]

***** ok i dont think you understand what i'm insinuating so now i want you to just spend some time and think about why you just told me that

[@NevTheDeranged]

What about CFLs? Are those basically just Flourescents in the shape of Incandescents?

[@brandenjames2408]

yes, same concept, different shape

[@ufninuyasha]

CFL = compact fluorescent

[@NevTheDeranged]

Yeah, I knew that part, I just didn't know if they worked differently.

[@HassanSelim0]

are these the ones that are shaped like a spiral?

[@ufninuyasha]

Hassan Selim Yep. Those are them.

[@Jolls981]

I love these 'Technical Terms' oh so much.

[@stealthunter14]

How a telephone works

[@WizardClipAudio]

A fifth grader should be able to explain in principle to you about how a telephone works. The key work is "should". I don't know exactly what has happened to the school system since I went. When I was in primary school, about fourth grade, every student was assigned to make a crude electric telegraph and connect them across the room to our 'science partners' desk and transmit and receive a simple message in Morse code. Mrs. Davis, my teacher, may never know how much of an effect that these simple electronic projects we did in her class had on me.

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

If a 5th grader can explain POTS and telephone exchanges, then I wouldn't have a job wiring the things up. There's a bit more two it than the basic principle. The awesomeness of telephone isn't in the simple end devices, it's in the rats nest of wires and switches that makes them connect to each other automatically and reliably.

[@General12th]

Magic.

[@AJ99639]

Finanly! a minutephysics video, which covers things I already knew! :)

[@HeadlessZombY]

ah, so LEDs emit party energy directly into parties, interesting.

[@daedra40]

I feel so ENLIGHTENED!

[@PacMany7]

If only You Tube was around when I was doing my school exams.

[@GreenBaboon]

I really enjoyed this video. More so than your last few. That's the technical term!

[@anamorphicalan]

Hmm I noticed autible really supports plethora youtube channels Yay :D

[@picturesofrain]

Science gets me all excited and so it makes me pretty bright. Makes perfect sense.

[@KartKrasher]

What about Black lights

[@martinsalko1]

leds contain gas as well and the pn junction is used to force electrons to pass trough the gass and light it up. so you can think of it as low woltage fluorescent tube. (asuming the fact fluorescent tubes need up to 1 KV to light up)

[@zir786]

I thought you were going to explain the energy saving lightbulb too.

[@mikewilding72]

They did...Florescent bulbs are CFLs...

[@charliespinoza1966]

I love you Henry. You did not forget to be awesome.