A normal light bulb is also known as an incandescent light bulb. These are your typical 60 watt, 75 watt etc. bulbs. The idea behind these bulbs is simple. Electricity runs through the filament. Because the filament is so thin, it offers a good bit of resistance to the electricity, and this resistance turns electrical energy into heat. The heat is enough to make the filament white hot, and the “white” part is light. The filament glows because of the heat. The problem with incandescent bulbs, is that the heat wastes a lot of electricity. Heat is not light, and the purpose of the light bulb is light, so all of the energy spent creating heat is a waste. Incandescent bulbs are therefore very inefficient.

A fluorescent bulb uses a completely different method to produce light. There are electrodes at both ends of a fluorescent tube and a gas containing argon and mercury vapor is inside the tube. There is a stream of electrons flowing between the electrodes at both ends of the fluorescent bulb. The electrons interact with mercury vapor atoms floating inside the bulb. The mercury atoms become excited, and when they return to an unexcited state they release photons of light in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum. These ultraviolet photons collide with the phosphor coating the inside of the bulb, and the phosphor creates visible light. The phosphor fluoresces to produce light. A fluorescent bulb produces less heat, so it is much more efficient. So efficient that a 15 watt fluorescent bulb produces the same amount of light as a 60 watt incandescent bulb.

Fluorescent bulbs are usually spiral in shape. They last ten times longer than the average incandescent bulb. Although they may cost a little more than your average bulb, they will more than pay for themselves with their lifetime. The average bulb costs around .50 each. The average cost of a fluorescent is around $3.50. After replacing the incandescent 10 times, it has ended up costing you $5.00. So in the long run it is more cost efficient to purchase the fluorescents.

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