Can any type light bulb be powered by gas?

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SUMMARY

Halogen and incandescent light bulbs are designed to operate solely on electricity and cannot be powered by gas. While an incandescent bulb relies on heating a filament, the concept of using gas to heat a hollow filament is theoretically possible but has never been mass-produced. Gas lamps, which produce light through combustion, do not qualify as light bulbs since they lack a filament. The discussion highlights the distinction between gas-powered lighting and traditional electric light bulbs, emphasizing that gas lamps function differently and produce light through combustion rather than incandescence.

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  • Understanding of incandescent and halogen light bulb technology
  • Knowledge of gas lighting principles
  • Familiarity with the concept of incandescence
  • Awareness of historical developments in lighting technology
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  • Research the history and technology of gas lamps and their applications
  • Explore the differences between incandescent and LED lighting technologies
  • Investigate the development and use of thorium-containing incandescent mantles
  • Learn about regulations surrounding lighting technologies in different regions
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Electrical engineers, lighting designers, historians of technology, and anyone interested in the evolution of lighting solutions.

stickythighs
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Can a halogen light bulb be powered by gas, or can a halogen light bulb only be powered by electricity?

Can an incandescent light bulb be powered by gas, or can an incandescent light bulb only be powered by electricity?
 
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stickythighs said:
Can a halogen light bulb be powered by gas, or can a halogen light bulb only be powered by electricity?

Can an incandescent light bulb be powered by gas, or can an incandescent light bulb only be powered by electricity?

An incandescent light bulb only needs the filament to be heated, so I suppose you could have a hollow filament with very hot gas passing through the centre and heating it.

A halogen light bulb is just an incandescent light bulb whose filament is surrounded by a halogen, which let's it get hotter while lengthening its life. :smile:
 
tiny-tim said:
An incandescent light bulb only needs the filament to be heated, so I suppose you could have a hollow filament with very hot gas passing through the centre and heating it.

Are there (or have there ever been) incandescent light bulbs that were powered by gas and mass-produced?
 
No. I'm not even really sure what the point would be. The burning gas would give off more light than the filament!

Judging by your other thread, I'm not sure you understand something here: a gas lamp doesn't have a ligth bulb in it.
 
russ_watters said:
The burning gas would give off more light than the filament!

That's why I'm putting it inside the filament! :wink:
 
russ_watters said:
No. I'm not even really sure what the point would be. The burning gas would give off more light than the filament!

Do you concur with tiny_tim that a gas light is basically just a torch that is powered by gas?


Judging by your other thread, I'm not sure you understand something here: a gas lamp doesn't have a ligth bulb in it.

I've seen gas lights in which the flame is enclosed in a glass box. By definition, does a light enclosed by glass have to have a filament that is lit by incandescence in order to be a light bulb?
 
Yes, a gas light is just a torch. The flame gives off light. I'm not sure it that is incandescence or not. I think it is - the flame glows because it is hot and contains impurities. Some types of flames give off light via other processes though, so I'm not certain if that's really incandescence or not. We've had that question enough times though, I aught to know by now...
 
tiny-tim said:
That's why I'm putting it inside the filament! :wink:
Yeah, missed that part, sorry. That would be interesting - I wonder if its ever been done (it is done for infrared, but I haven't heard of it for visible light).
 
  • #10
russ_watters said:
The flame gives off light. I'm not sure it that is incandescence or not.

Incandescence is light due to heat - it is an important question because the law in the UK said that you had to have an "incandescent light" which banned LED bike lights.

It got changed recently when EU car makers started fitting LED lights.
Until then you could be stopped for having an LED light which both exceeded laser eye safety limits and wasn't considered accepatable illimunation!
 

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