How does the incandescent light bulb work?

When electricity flows through the filament, the lamp gives off light and gets hot in the usual way. In a normal incandescent lamp, the filament is made of tungsten metal and surrounded by a nonreactive ("inert") gas such as argon.Oct 9, 2016 read more

Before the invention of the light bulb, illuminating the world after the sun went down was a messy, arduous, hazardous task. It took a bunch of candles or torches to fully light up a good-sized room, and oil lamps, while fairly effective, tended to leave a residue of soot on anything in their general vicinity. read more

Electricity comes into a light bulb via a hot wire connected to a tab on the base of the bulb. Inside the bulb the electricity goes through a wire leading to a piece of tungsten. The tungsten is very thin and coiled to maximize resistance in the wire. read more

(Historical footnote: One can’t talk about the history of the light bulb without mentioning William Sawyer and Albon Man, who received a U.S. patent for the incandescent lamp, and Joseph Swan, who patented his light bulb in England. read more