Light+bulb

 **First Public Demonstration of Edison's Light Bulb**  **December 31, 1879**  Can you imagine what life was like before you could simply flip a switch and turn on a light? How would not having electric light affect the way you live your life? In the 1870s, many inventors were working on creating lighting devices, but until Edison became involved, what existed was electric arc lighting. This kind of lighting system was one in which lights were connected in a series circuit, so if one failed, the whole circuit failed. Edison boasted that he would create a safe, reliable, and inexpensive electric light that would replace gaslight. On December 31, 1879, after years of work and thousands of experiments, Edison gave the first public demonstration of the incandescent light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. An incandescent light has a thread-like object, or filament, that gives off light when heated to incandescence (hot enough to emit light) by an electric current. Edison was able to spend so much time on this invention because, thanks to his reputation as a successful inventor, he had the support of some leading financiers of the day. J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilts established the Edison Light Company and advanced Edison $30,000 for research and development. Edison did not work on creating the incandescent electric light alone. He was assisted by Francis Upton, a 26-year-old graduate of Princeton University with a master's degree in science. Upton provided the mathematical and theoretical expertise that Edison lacked. In October 1879, they produced a bulb with a platinum filament. But platinum was too expensive, so instead they found that a carbon filament provided a good light at a cheaper price. Although there were problems with the early incandescent lighting systems for years, Edison's reputation as the world's greatest inventor was firmly established.

= About Thomas Edison = Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio; the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. When Edison was seven his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Edison lived here until he struck out on his own at the age of sixteen. Edison had very little formal education as a child, attending school only for a few months. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother, but was always a very curious child and taught himself much by reading on his own. This belief in self-improvement remained throughout his life.Edison began working at an early age, as most boys did at the time. At thirteen he took a job as a newsboy, selling newspapers and candy on the local railroad that ran through Port Huron to Detroit. He seems to have spent much of his free time reading scientific, and technical books, and also had the opportunity at this time to learn how to operate a telegraph. By the time he was sixteen, Edison was proficient enough to work as a telegrapher full time.

Move to Menlo Park
In 1876 Edison sold all his Newark manufacturing concerns and moved his family and staff of assistants to the small village of Menlo Park, twenty-five miles southwest of New York City. Edison established a new facility containing all the equipment necessary to work on any invention. This research and development laboratory was the first of its kind anywhere; the model for later, modern facilities such as Bell Laboratories, this is sometimes considered to be Edison's greatest invention. Here Edison began to change the world. The first great invention developed by Edison in Menlo Park was the tin foil phonograph. The first machine that could record and reproduce sound created a sensation and brought Edison international fame. Edison toured the country with the tin foil phonograph, and was invited to the White House to demonstrate it to President Rutherford B. Hayes in April 1878.Edison next undertook his greatest challenge, the development of a practical incandescent, electric light. The idea of electric lighting was not new, and a number of people had worked on, and even developed forms of electric lighting. But up to that time, nothing had been developed that was remotely practical for home use. Edison's eventual achievement was inventing not just an incandescent electric light, but also an electric lighting system that contained all the elements necessary to make the incandescent light practical, safe, and economical.

Thomas Edison Founds an Industry Based on Electricity
After one and a half years of work, success was achieved when an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread burned for thirteen and a half hours. The first public demonstration of the Edison's incandescent lighting system was in December 1879, when the Menlo Park laboratory complex was electrically lighted. Edison spent the next several years creating the electric industry. In September 1882, the first commercial power station, located on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, went into operation providing light and power to customers in a one square mile area; the electric age had begun.

A Great Man Dies
During the last two years of his life Edison was in increasingly poor health. Edison spent more time away from the laboratory, working instead at Glenmont. Trips to the family vacation home in Fort Myers, Florida became longer. Edison was past eighty and suffering from a number of ailments. In August 1931 Edison collapsed at Glenmont. Essentially house bound from that point, Edison steadily declined until at 3:21 am on October 18, 1931 the great man died

What is a light bulb?
A light bulb is a a glass bulb inserted into a lamp of a soket in a ceiling that gives light by passing an electric current throuh a pocket of inert gas.

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These are photos of what the light bulb used to look like and what it looks like now. can you tell how it has changed over the years? Light Bulb A light bulb is a glass bulb that is inserted into a lamp or a socket in a ceiling that provides light by passing an electric current. When you flick on a switch the electric currant opens up and the electricity can pass. Thomas Edison wasnt the first person to think up this idea but he was the first person to perfect this idea and after 1 year and 6 months he mad a light bulb that burned for 13 hours.

The light bulb is a used now because if we didn’t have the light bulb then we would still use candle sticks and not even candle sticks are that bright. Some light bulbs you can adjust to see how bright and how dim it can get. A light bulb is used for many different reasons but the most important reason is to provide light.

Can we live in a world with out lights? Yes you can it would be difficult but it is possible you could use candles. Are light bulbs dangerous if not handled carefully? Yes very lets say some one dropped a light bulb,first most light bulbs are made out of glass and glass can be sharp second of all if you have a dog or a toddler then the dog or toddler could eat the glass not knowing what he or she would be doing When was the light bulb invented? the light bulb was invented on 1879 and around that time it would have been a big deal imagine what it would be like in 1879 when the light bulb wasn't even known to the world. A light bulb i a source of energy.