An incandescent light bulb recognized by Guinness World Records as being the longest burning is still glowing strong days after celebrations that marked its 110th anniversary.
The Centennial Light Bulb, at Fire Station No. 6 in Livermore, Calif., has been burning bright since it was first installed in 1901. (The exact date appears unknown, though the bulb’s “birthday” is typically held in June, most recently June 18th.) Since then, the 60-watt bulb has been alight 24 hours a day, operating at about 4 watts, to provide night illumination of the fire engines.
Other than a few power outages, there has only been one break in its operation, when it was removed from one fire station and fitted in another in 1976. The cord was severed out of fear that unscrewing the bulb would break it, and it was moved with a full police and fire truck escort, under the watch of Capt. Kirby Slate. It got but 22 minutes of rest during the ordeal.
The bulb is an improved incandescent lamp, invented by Adolphe A. Chaillet, and produced by the Shelby Electric Co. It is a hand-blown bulb with carbon filament. The light continues to confound scientists from across the country who have been unable to explain how it has managed to continue to glow for so long.
According to a website dedicated to the bulb, www.centennialbulb.org, Debora Katz, a physicist at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., has conducted extensive research into the Livermore light bulb’s physical properties, using a vintage light bulb from Shelby Electric Co. that is a near replica of the Livermore light.
“The Livermore light bulb differs from a contemporary incandescent bulb in two ways,” says Katz. “First its filament is about eight times thicker than a contemporary bulb. Second, the filament is a semiconductor, most likely made of carbon.
“When a conductor gets hotter, its ability to conduct electricity goes down. When the Shelby bulb gets hotter, it becomes a better conductor of electricity.”
Katz says she will test the filament of a broken vintage Shelby light bulb at the US Naval Academy’s particle accelerator to learn more about its properties. “It is possible that the Livermore light bulb is one of a kind.”
The bulb has a dedicated live webcam that refreshes every 10 seconds, which you can see here.
No. It does not baffle scientists. Google "Planned obsolescence", you will understand very quickly.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing baffling about the light bulb. It has a voltage across the filament that is too low to make it glow brightly so it just barely gets hot and emits few electrons. It is a profoundly inefficient design. I could build such a light bulb that would last just a long.
ReplyDeleteoh for gawd sakes...are you really that stupid. They know darn well why the light bulb is so persistent. It has mostly to do with the filament. Thanks to a consortium of industry partners and the corrupt US gov, light bulbs ultimately achieved (downward) the goal of 1000 light hours.
ReplyDeleteGoogle it. Another industry act of obsolescence where the entire world gov were essentially forced to create a "crappy" light bulb.
Its not the masses wasting resources (as you might think), its industry and their cheap products and their ideal of obsolescence.
This article is misleading at best.
The light bulb was manufactured before the invention of planned obsolescence. . .
ReplyDeleteEverything made in that era is still around and would still function if it was taken care of properly. But you can't make money that way, so can you say "planned obsolescence" kids?
ReplyDeleteAlso, what burns a bulb out faster is constantly turning it off and on, so leaving it on probably helps.
The light bulb industry was a pioneer of an engineering term known as 'planned obsolescence' where light bulbs were designed to fail sooner. Most consumer products are designed this way now - not sure why a scientist should be baffled by this.
ReplyDeleteI watched the 'Light bulb conspiracy' on youtube long time ago, but i think it can still be found. Might be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSDIZs0GHig
Looking at how dim the bulb is glowing .
ReplyDeleteIt stands to reason that maybe the filament
was used from 220v light bulb on a 110.
which would make the bulb run way cooler.
At less that the 4th of the designed wattage,
maybe allot less due to nonlinearity of
resistance in a hot metal.
Its not a lightbulb but a very small heater.
So in other words take your regular bulb
and run it on 50v indtead of 110 i am sure it
will last almost forever but wont put out
any light just glow dimly red :)
So the Light Bulb companies know how to make life time light bulbs but refuse to do so for the sake of profits.
ReplyDeleteWhat other technologies are being suppressed???!!
Well known fact, the thicker the filament the longer the bulb burns. And, the thicker the filament the less efficient the bulb is. GE used to hand out a "million hour" incandescent bulb that proved the point.
ReplyDeleteSad when a product built before the planned obsolescence craze baffles scientists.
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