What is the main difference between an incandescent light bulb and compact fluorscent light bulb?

Answer 1

An incandescent bulb differs from a fluorescent based on how it produces light. "Incandescent" means producing light through heat, this is essentially how an incandescent bulb lights. As current travels to the tungsten filament, the filament heats and lights up as the tungsten filament begins to deteriorate and eventually fail. Fluorescent bulbs produce light when current excites gasses inside the glass envelope. As the gasses get excited they emit photons. Interestingly, the light produced by a fluorescent bulb does not fall along the visible spectrum until it passes through the white, phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb. And there you have it.

Answer 2

In an incasescent light the light is emitted directly from the element.

In a fluorescent light the element excites a gas which in turn excites a secondary emission surface this then emits the light.

Less power is needed per candella of light emitted from a fluorescent light but it is more expensive to make in the first place.

This is correct, as mentioned above, I found this article written by Specialist Paints Online with gives a comparison

http://www.specialistpaintsonline.co.uk/news/Luminous-and-Fluorescent-Paints

Answer 3

The reason fluorescent bulbs provide more light with less electricity is the efficiency of exciting the fluorescent gases versus the controlled burn of a filament. The filament burns which wastes a lot of the 60W bulb's energy as heat. The dandy little 13W fluorescent makes as much light, but isn't burning anything.

The draw-back of fluorescents is the quality of light, and the inability to control the intensity -- the fluorescent is either full-on or full-off, whereas the incandescent bulb can be dimmed with a rheostat.
the incandescent light bulb is powered by energy through waves that generally relate to the fuse and the compact fluorescent light bulb uses electricity to power the bulb
An incandescent has a filament which heats and throws off light when electricity flows thru it and a fluorescent has gas in it that glows when electricity passes through it.

also :

Incandescent lamp are: 1-low energy efficiency. 2-low initial costs. 3-produces warm color light. 4-reflector can be integerated within the bulb. 5- short bulb life.

on the other hand:

Fluorescent lamps: 1- high energy efficiency. 2-high initial costs due to extra components. 3- produces cool color light. 4- long bulb life.

Answer 4

In terms of energy efficiency, a fluorescent lamp has a greater efficacy than an incandescent lamp -in other words, it will require a smaller input power to produce the same number of lumens.

In terms of the environment, a fluorescent lamp contains Mercury, has far more components, and requires more energy to manufacture than an incandescent lamp, so is more hazardous to the environment.

Answer 5

The main difference is the way they produce light. Incandescent bulbs use a filament that heats up to produce light, while compact fluorescent bulbs use a gas and a small amount of mercury to produce ultraviolet light that then stimulates a phosphor coating to produce visible light. Compact fluorescent bulbs are more energy-efficient and last longer than incandescent bulbs.

Answer 6

Incandescent sources give a continuous spectrum of light, as does sunlight.

Florescent sources give separated lines of colors.

Answer 7

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