Incandescent Light Bulb

The electricity hums through the wire filament with unexpected might. You can just about trace the current as it makes its way through the light bulb and charges it with its luminescence. One bulb floods the entire room with light, like a sliver of the sun captured by man, to light up the dark. An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light, which produces light with a wire filament heated to a high temperature by an electric current passing through it, until it glows (see Incandescence). The hot filament is protected from oxidation with a glass or quartz bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, filament evaporation is prevented by a chemical process that redeposits metal vapor onto the filament, extending its life. The light bulb is supplied with electrical current by feed-through terminals or wires embedded in the glass. Most bulbs are used in a socket which provides mechanical support and electrical connections.