First Light Bulb - Story of Electric Light

Origins of The First Light Bulb

Most of us fail to understand the significance of the light bulb until the power goes out in the middle of the night. The light bulb is by far one of the most under appreciated inventions ever made. Without light bulbs, we would live in a world of candles and gas lamps. Not too exciting given most people want and need something a little more efficient and economical.

The light bulb has changed many aspects of life. It has expanded our capacity to work at night and provided us with convenience worthy of recognition. While most people credit Thomas Edison with creating the light bulb, the real history of electric light can be traced to the year 1811.It was during this time that a fellow named Sir Humphrey Davy found that an electrical arc creates light when passed through two poles. Several years later in 1841, officials used trial "arc lights" in Paris to light public walkways. In fact, during the 1800s scientists and odd-jobbers conducted several experiments to explore the potential uses of arc or electric light.

Unfortunately arc light didn't prove useful, mainly because the lights burn out too quickly. Thus researchers continued to explore electricity and light in the hopes of developing a reliable instrument for producing light in the home. There were many researchers who discovered primitive lamps before Thomas Edison. However, because Thomas Edison made the greatest contribution to lighting and creating the light bulb, he deserves the most attention.

Thomas Edison's Invention

Thomas Edison came on the scene in 1879. Most credit Edison with producing the first true electric light bulb. Scientists including Edison realized that electricity must pass through a filament instead of open space (as is the case with arc light) to produce lasting light. The Joule effect, named after James Prescott Joule, describes the theory that electric currents can pass through a conductor to produce a heated glow. Joule however was not able to develop the right conductor to make this happen.

Sir Joseph Wilson Swan of England later came on the scene to present the first electrical bulb, however his bulb was not able to preserve a sufficient vacuum. This is where Thomas Edison stepped in. He figured out how to not only pass electricity through a filament or conductor but also created a proper bulb and vacuum to produce lasting light. The first bulb, a carbon filament bulb, lasted for a record 40 hours.

After this success Thomas Edison continued to work on developing more efficient and useful lamps and light bulbs. His next project was creating incandescent lamps. These lamps create light using electricity in a different way. The electricity heats a filament (which is nothing more than a thin strip of material) producing enough heat to make it glow.

Thomas achieved his goals in 1879, when he presented a high resistance electric incandescent light bulb. He continued to refine and develop his product during the next few years, as did several other scientists seeking ways to make light production more efficient and long lasting.

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