It needs to be vaporized and ionized before the lamp can produce its full light output.
Low pressure mercury lamp operation.
Low pressure lamps have working pressure much less than atmospheric pressure.
These early low pressure lamps used a lot of mercury today s lamps use a tiny amount of mercury.
A fluorescent lamp is a low weight mercury vapour lamp that uses fluorescence to deliver visible light.
Low pressure mercury fluorescent lamps are commonly called tube lights.
Right around 1900 the mercury arc rectifier was developed this luminous device was very important for power conversion.
Rather than a cold spot the lamp s amalgam spot on pellet regulates mercury vapor pressure during operation and yields up to three times the uvc output of a standard low pressure mercury lamp of the same length.
In addition to the mercury the tube is filled with argon gas at low pressure.
A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a low pressure mercury vapor gas discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light.
Amalgam lamps use a mercury amalgam mix to control mercury vapor pressure.
Two varieties of such lamps exist.
An electric current in the gas energizes mercury vapor which delivers ultraviolet radiation through discharge process and the ultraviolet radiation causes the phosphor coating of the lamp inner wall to radiate visible light.
To facilitate starting of the lamp a third electrode is mounted near one of the main electrodes and connected through a resistor to the other main electrode.
Low pressure discharge lamps.
This coating covers more than 70 of the diameter of the lighted length of the lamp.
A sodium vapor lamp is a gas discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm.
Fluorescent lamps a heated cathode lamp the most common lamp in office lighting and many other applications produces up to 100 lumens.
The power ratings are from 4 watt to 125 watts.
Low pressure and high pressure low pressure sodium lamps are highly efficient electrical light sources but their yellow light restricts applications to outdoor lighting such as street lamps where they are widely used.
The aperture phosphor coated lamps that jelight company produces employ the same basic design as the double bore low pressure mercury vapor lamps with the exception of a special phosphor coating.
Low pressure mercury lamps are very similar to a fluorescent lamp with a wavelength of 253 7 nm 1182 5 thz.
An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor which produces short wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor coating on the inside of the lamp to glow a fluorescent lamp converts electrical energy into useful light much more efficiently.
The average life of tube lights is about 5000 hours and also they are very cheap hence they are very popular.
They are available in lengths from the very small at 150 mm to up to 2400 mm.
For example common fluorescent lamps operate at a pressure of about 0 3 of atmospheric pressure.