Lightbulb!

Today is the 135th anniversary of the light bulb! Thomas Alva Edison patented it on February 19th, 1878.

Here are some facts about the light bulb:

1. • The amount of light coming from a lightbulb is measured in watts. These are named after James Watt, a Scottish inventor who invented the steam engine.
   • A typical American home has between 50 and 100 light bulb sockets. How many are in your home?
   • In 2005, Americans bought 2 billion light bulbs---that's more than 5 million every day.
   • Around 12 percent of the energy used in a typical American home is spent on lighting.
   • Regular light bulbs pass electricity through a small piece of wire called a filament. The electricity makes the filament so hot that it glows, giving out light. If the filament gets so hot that if it was surrounded by oxygen, it would burn up, so the glass bulb seals it out and makes sure the filament is surrounded by a gas that won't make it burn.
   • Swirl bulbs, also known as CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights), use around 75 percent less energy than regular bulbs. If every American household swapped just one regular bulb to a CFL, over a year enough energy would be saved to power a city of 1.5 million people. Each CFL saves about 2,000 times its own weight in carbon emissions. (But are full of deadly mercury and can't be thrown in the trash.)

Thomas Alva Edison patented the light bulb on this day in 1878.
Can you imagine life without it? Post your opinion of life without the light bulb below!



JM