Swirly Lightbulbs

This light bulb.... is good! The fluorescent light bulb pays for itself after about 6 months of use. According to energy star, it saves $30, uses 75% less energy, and lasts 10 times longer than the bad lightbulb (incandescent). How are these swirly lightbulbs so much better? Basically because of the science of how it produces its light. The components consist of electrons, mercury, argon, and ultraviolet photons. To get technica,l the electrons from each end of the light bulb interact with the mercury atoms floating around in the swirlys. The mercury atoms get excited that these electrons are interacting with them, but when these atoms become tired they release units of light called photons. These photons run into the phosphor coating of the swirlys and then emits the light.

By this process, it produces less heat than the incandescent light bulb. This is why you can go out and buy a 15-watt fluorescent light bulb with the same amount of light produced by a 60 watt incandescent light bulb.

There is one bad thing about this swirly light bulb; it contains mercury. If people do not dispose of these lightbulbs correctly it can do very bad damage to the environment because mercury is highly toxic. How to correctly dispose of the fluorescent lightbulb: TAKE THEM TO THE HAZARDOUS WASTE DROP-OFF AREA. It is free of charge=).








http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=LB

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question236.htm