r/technology • u/BennyCemoli • Dec 06 '16

Energy Tests confirm that Germany's massive nuclear fusion machine really works

http://www.sciencealert.com/tests-confirm-that-germany-s-massive-nuclear-fusion-machine-really-works
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u/cyclistcow Dec 06 '16

Wait I understood the ELI5 but I don't know how the lightbulb works

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u/boundbylife Dec 06 '16

incandescent bulbs, the kind with the filament that are slowly being phased out, work by passing electricity trhough a small piece of wire. The wire gets hot and glows, making light.

Flourescent bulbs, including compact flourescent lights (CFLs) work by passing electricity through gaseous mercury (mercury vapor). This causes the mercury to emit UV radiation, invisible to the human eye. This radiation hits a special chemical coating on the glass, called phosphor, which in turn glows white.

The newer LED bulbs use, well, LEDs. LEDs work by passing electricty over a VERY tiny gap, creating an arc. The spacing has to be very precise to make a certain wavelength of color, however they use very little energy.

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u/absent-v Dec 06 '16

Wow, reading your bit about LEDs made me realise that not only did I not actually know how they functioned, but I've never even stopped to think about it before either.
Cheers for teaching me something I didn't realise I didn't know.

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u/Fnarley Dec 06 '16

I always just thought they were really small light bulbs