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An incandescent light bulb is an electrical light source. “Incandescent” means that that light is from a heat driven source. So a candle would also be incandescent, but it wouldn’t be an incandescent light bulb, because it’s not powered by electricity. Instead of a wick, like you’d see on a candle, a light bulb has a filament. And instead of catching the filament on fire, like you’d do with a candle, a light bulb passes electricity through the filament in order to heat it up and create light. To continue the candle analogy, a wick burns up as it creates light. A filament would do the same thing, more or less, oxidizing when it’s heated, except for one thing. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb which keeps the oxygen away from the filament. A candle requires oxygen to burn, but a filament doesn’t require oxygen in order for the electrical current to pass through it. (You can learn more about how light bulbs work here.

An incandescent bulb can come in a number of different sizes. It can also range in voltage from 1.5 volts to 300 volts. They’re cheap to make, and alternating current or direct current works equally well in powering a light bulb. Most homes and businesses use incandescent light bulbs. You’ll also find incandescent light bulbs in flash lights, head lights, and Christmas lights.

Most people think of this type of light bulb as merely a source of light, but some technologies also make use of the heat generated by incandescent light bulbs. For example, chicken farmers use incandescent light bulbs to keep brooding boxes warm. And if you have a friend with a pet snake, she probably uses an incandescent light bulb to keep its tank warm. My daughters use a toy oven that’s powered by an incandescent light bulb.

The implications of incandescent light bulbs in terms of heating and air costs are obvious. In the winter, incandescent light bulbs keep the inside of your house a little warmer. But in the summer, they also make your house a little warmer, which costs more in air conditioning.

Incandescent light bulbs are on their way out. Newer forms of light bulbs are becoming increasingly common. Fluorescent light bulbs and LED light bulbs are two kinds of lighting that differ in mechanism from traditional incandescent light bulbs. They offer some advantages over the old-school light bulbs. For one thing, they offer more light and less heat. And they use approximately the same amount of electricity. And anything that provides better results for the same energy is better for the environment. Unfortunately, these newer types of light bulbs aren’t as cheap to produce as the traditional light bulbs. But since many of the newer light bulb technologies last longer than the older light bulbs, it comes out more-or-less even in the end.