Flourescents (was: What tools do you carry, always

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Thu Dec 7 17:30:48 2000

>Could somebody please explain to me how flourescent lamps work?
>They put out a LOT of UV light.
>So much so, that I thought that the name implied that they operated by a
>coating that flouresced under UV.

Gas in the tube is ionized, current then passes through it. The current
excites the ions that emit high energy photons (typically toward the ultra
violet end of the spectrum) which impinge on a phosphor that coats the
inside of the tube which absorbs the energy of the photon and then
re-radiates that energy as heat + light at a different wavelength.
(generally lower in the spectrum toward blue) The more "downshifting" the
phosphor does the more heat it emits.

--Chuck
Received on Thu Dec 07 2000 - 17:30:48 GMT