Lights are nearly everywhere we go these days, even outdoors. They bring a sense of comfort by giving us the ability to see the world around us, even when the sun has gone down or we are indoors. Without them, it would be impossible for us to have anything inclusive to any modern society, yet most people don’t know any more about them than the fact that they come in different wattages for brightness.
But, the world of lighting is far more expansive than that. There are many different kinds of lights and they keep advancing even more than a century past their original invention. So, let’s learn a little about the lights we so often take for granted.
1. Light Bulbs Were Invented In 1879
Thomas Edison filed the first-ever patent for a light bulb as we know them today in 1879. It was an incandescent lamp, meaning that it produces light by heating an element that emits light when heated by an electrical current.
2. Incandescent Versus LED
Most homes now are switching away from incandescent bulbs in favor of LED lights. What they may not realize is the actual difference. Incandescent bulbs are shown to convert roughly 9% of the energy they consume into light, while LED bulbs convert nearly 100%.
3. LEDs Are Shock Resistant
Due to the way they are made, the majority of LED lamps can operate even after some fairly serious impact. Incandescent bulbs, being made of glass, shatter and are rendered useless easily.
4. LED Lifespan
LED bulbs in some cases can last between 50,000 and 100,000 hours of use. If you break that down and figure 12 hours every day using a 50,000-hour bulb, that bulb would still last over a decade!
5. LEDs Don’t Attract Bugs
Incandescent bulbs have the issue with attracting bugs because they emit higher levels of UV light, but LEDs emit an extremely small amount of UV and therefore don’t attract bugs to them.
6. LEDs Come On Instantly
Thanks to the physics behind LED technology, they are able to reach full brightness instantly. So, if your LED lights have any issues staying lit or flickering, you may want to look into why your LED lights flicker, as they should shine bright anytime power is on them.
7. Blue LEDs Can Keep Food Fresh
Blue LED lights have been shown to have an antibacterial effect on foodborne pathogens, and they help keep the food fresher than when it is exposed to other light. This has led many refrigerator manufacturers to begin putting blue LEDs in home fridges, as an aid in food preservation.
8. LED Savings Projection
The greater efficiency of LED lamps has led to estimates on the nationwide savings over the next 20 years due to their increasing use to go well beyond a quarter of a trillion dollars. Yes, that is a quarter of a TRILLION dollars just from switching light bulbs.
9. Oldest Burning Light Bulb
While LED lamps have seemingly preposterous lifespans, there is an incandescent bulb that is currently burning as of this writing and has been burning since 1901. Against near-impossible odds, this bulb has burned, as of yet, 119 years. Talk about a lifespan.
10.You Are A Light
For our last fun fact, I'll leave you with this little tidbit; humans are bioluminescent. That means that we actually produce and emit light from our bodies. The reason that most people aren’t aware of is that the light is so minute that our eyes can’t even register it. Just think, when your parents said you were the light of their world, they likely had no clue how literal that was.