Electrical filament facts for kids

Light bulb filament

An incandescent light bulb has a small thin wire with two bigger wires holding it up. This wire is called a filament. The filament is the part of the light bulb that produces light.

Filaments in incandescent light bulbs are made of tungsten. Whenever an electric current goes through the filament, the filament glows. It may also be known as the electron emitting element in a vacuum tube. To make the bulb produce more light, the filament is usually made of coils of fine wire, also known as the coiled coil.

Images for kids

A 230-volt incandescent light bulb with a medium-sized E27 (Edison 27 mm) male screw base. The filament is visible as the mostly horizontal line between the vertical supply wires.
Original carbon-filament bulb from Thomas Edison's shop in Menlo Park
Alexander Lodygin on 1951 Soviet postal stamp
Carbon filament lamps, showing darkening of bulb
Historical plaque at Underhill, the first house to be lit by electric lights
Edison carbon filament lamps, early 1880s
Hanaman (left) and Just (right), the inventors of the tungsten bulbs
Spectrum of an incandescent lamp at 2200 K, showing most of its emission as invisible infrared light.
Xenon halogen lamp with an E27 base, which can replace a non-halogen bulb
Thermal image of an incandescent bulb. 22–175 °C = 71–347 °F.
Spectral power distribution of a 25 W incandescent light bulb.
The 1902 tantalum filament light bulb was the first one to have a metal filament. This one is from 1908.
Filament of a 200-watt incandescent lightbulb highly magnified
Close-up of a tungsten filament inside a halogen lamp. The two ring-shaped structures left and right are filament supports.
A package of four 60-watt light bulbs
Left to right: MR16 with GU10 base, MR16 with GU5.3 base, MR11 with GU4 or GZ4 base
40-watt light bulbs with standard E10, E14 and E27 Edison screw base
The Centennial Light is the longest-lasting light bulb in the world.
Various lighting spectra as viewed in a diffraction grating. Upper left: fluorescent lamp, upper right: incandescent bulb, lower left: white LED, lower right: candle flame.

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