Gas lights in Victorian London

[stickythighs]

I know that the streets of London were illuminated by gas lights in the 1880s. The gas that powered the gas lights of London was coal gas. How was the chemical energy of coal gas transfered into light energy to light up the lamps?

[tiny-tim]

I know that the streets of London were illuminated by gas lights in the 1880s.

The Temple, just off Fleet Street, in the City of London, is still lit by gaslights.

A gaslighter goes round every evening to light them.
The gas that powered the gas lights of London was coal gas. How was the chemical energy of coal gas transfered into light energy to light up the lamps?

erm … it's called a flame … the gas combines with oxygen in the air, and chemical energy is released as heat and light.

You can get the same effect from a Bunsen burner. :smile:

[stickythighs]

The Temple, just off Fleet Street, in the City of London, is still lit by gaslights.

A gaslighter goes round every evening to light them.

I didn't know it was that primitive. I thought that they might have been turned on via a switch like electric lights.



erm … it's called a flame … the gas combines with oxygen in the air, and chemical energy is released as heat and light.

You can get the same effect from a Bunsen burner. :smile:

Oh...I thought that maybe the gas lights operated by the principle of incandescence or something more than just the simple light of a flame. So basically a gas light is a just a torch that is powered by gas.

[tiny-tim]

So basically a gas light is a just a torch that is powered by gas.

Yes! :smile:

[stickythighs]

Yes! :smile:

A gas light in Victorian London was a torch that was often enclosed in a glass box.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Latarnia_gazowa_przyMoscieTumskim.jpg

The gas light at the above link is a torch enclosed in a glass box.

[tiny-tim]

A gas light in Victorian London was a torch that was often enclosed in a glass box.

Yes … partly to stop the wind blowing the light out, and partly to stop the light setting adjacent trees on fire! :smile:

(of course, the glass box wasn't air-tight, since a continuous supply of oxygen from the air was needed)

[arildno]

I didn't know it was that primitive. I thought that they might have been turned on via a switch like electric lights
Primitive?
Nope, just British..

[mgb_phys]

I thought that they might have been turned on via a switch like electric lights
I think the electrical switching probbaly caused interference with WiFi

Primitive?
Nope, just British..
But it was Y2K proof.

By late Victorian times most indoor gas lights used mantles which were much more efficent, streetlights were still just flames because mantles were expensive and fragile.

[tiny-tim]

hi arildno! :smile:
Primitive?
Nope, just British..

Primitive?

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_lighting#The_first_gas_lighting:
The first public street lighting with gas took place in Pall Mall, London on January 28, 1807. In 1812, Parliament granted a charter to the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the first gas company in the world came into being. A few years later, on December 31, 1813, the Westminster Bridge was lit by gas.

Britain once again at the forefront of the technological revolution! :biggrin:
But it was Y2K proof.

:rofl: :rofl:

[hypatia]

Antique Gaseliers, chandeliers lit by gas, are just so beautiful to look at. Most of the antique ones have been re-wired for electric, which was easy to do because of the hollow tubes needed for the gas, made wiring a cinch.