Voltage, Light Output and Light

The energy a light bulb produces is called the voltage or (V) of the light bulb. Volts describes the amount of energy produced by a bulb. Light bulbs also use an "amperage". This tells you how much energy a bulb needs to produce lights. Watts describes electrical flow or energy. Watt simply is a measure of how much electrical energy is flowing in a given second.

Power also refers to energy flow, but for all intents and purposes most people refer to the energy or power a light bulb produces using the term watts.

Most incandescent light bulbs come in 30, 40, 60 and 100 Watt options using tungsten filaments. However, watts on traditional bulbs can range 15 to 300.

If you really want to understand the science behind light bulbs you should take a minute to fully understand the relationship between voltage, light output, light, amperes and more. Electricity is measured in units. Typically voltage, resistance, and current are used to measure the strength of electricity.

Volts is the unit used to measure voltage. Current on the other hand is measured in amps. Ohms quantifies the electricity related to resistance.

In more common terms, voltage refers to the force of electricity, whereas the current relates to the flow of electricity. Resistance measures the space available for an electric current to pass through.

Each of these electric terms relates to another. Current for example, equals the voltage or force of electricity divided by the resistance, or space it has to pass through.

The more voltage you have available the more energy or light will flow. Now, let's say you want to measure the electrical power available for a given unit. Electrical power is measured using watts. The power of a light bulb then, is equal to the voltage times the current. Thus, watts equal the force of electricity times the flow of electricity.

If you increase the flow or force of electricity, you get more power. Thus a bulb burns brighter. So the higher voltage or resistance the stronger light force produced. If you have a 9 volt light bulb and hook it up to a 9 volt power source, and 100 watts of power, your light bulb produces 11.11 amps of energy.

Light bulbs can produce equivalent power (say 100 watts) but use less current when doing so. The more resistance your electrical wires produce the more power you will need to produce the same amount of energy.

More on the story! - How To Get the Most Out of Your Light Bulb
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