The anonymous commenter suffers from a sense of humour failure, unlike this Frenchman
5 June 2005, 16:47:19 GMT+01:00 – Like – Reply
. no defense for your xenophobia then?
5 June 2005, 12:41:11 GMT+01:00 – Like – Reply
markm Smirnoff, they do sell long-life bulbs: flourescents. They cost more because they're considerably more complicated than a tungsten wire sealed in an evacuated glass bulb, but the power saved more than pays for it. Or buy LEDs for decades of life and great efficiency, at a much higher price. Don't blame the light bulb mfgs because you are too cheap to buy a better technology.
An incandescent bulb contains a white-hot thin metal wire. Heated metal burns in oxygen. If there was any oxygen around, the filament would burn out instantly - apply power, one bright flash, and that's it. Maybe photography flash bulbs work something like this, but standard bulbs contain a vacuum. The filament gradually evaporates until it gets too thin somewhere, then it breaks. You'll often see a thin silvery plating on part of an old bulb - that's the evaporated metal, which condensed on the relatively cooler glass.
Filling the bulb with pure nitrogen instead of vacuum might somewhat slow the evaporation, but it also costs more. (It takes quite a lot of energy to separate N2 from O2 and the other components of air.) It's questionable whether this is a worthwhile tradeoff.
Another option is to fill it with vacuum plus a small drop of of halogens (bromine and iodine, e.g.). These evaporate as the bulb heats up, so it's filled with a very thin gas. The evaporated metal reacts chemically with the halogens instead of plating out on the bulb. This enables you to run the filament hotter than usual and get a very bright light in a very tiny bulb without having the light blocked by the evaporated metal on the bulb. Halogen bulbs were originally developed for aircraft wingtip lights, which have to be pretty bright and fit in a thin space. But there's another advantage to halogens; they run hot enough to keep the tungsten bromide or iodide gaseous until they circulate back to the filament, then the heat of the filament breaks them down. That is, the metal is deposited back on the filament. It might not go back in the same place it came from, so over time some parts of the filament get thicker and other parts get thinner until they break, but it does extend the life of the bulb. OTOH, halogen bulbs cost considerably more, and they seem to be especially fragile.
4 June 2005, 10:46:43 GMT+01:00 – Like – Reply
Comrade_Smirnoff Crosbie, if you filled a lightbulb up with 100% Nitrogen it'd last forever. The Oxygen reacts with the filament, thats why it eventually snuffs out.
Andrew Ian Dodge Crazy Frog is an annoyonance to be sure but its success is a clear sign of a healthy (if tasteless) economy. And I have to say keeping that whingeing moron Chris Martin off the top spot is a great thing.
1 June 2005, 13:31:29 GMT+01:00 – Like – Reply
Andrew Duffin Methinks Comrade Smirnoff has misplaced his tinfoil hat.
1 June 2005, 12:25:58 GMT+01:00 – Like – Reply
Crosbie I thought lightbulbs failed because the filament evaporated, though the nitrogen retards this? Also, isn't the three year life of lithium-ion battery packs an intrinsic property of the salt and solvents used? Or was that post entirely tongue in cheek?
31 May 2005, 21:09:01 GMT+01:00 – Like – Reply
Comrade_Smirnoff The irritating volume of advertising that we are subjected to for ringtones and other phone related gimmicks indicates that the corporations are attempting to cultivate new markets so as to compensate for the recent slump in demand for new phones. The success of the crazy frog suggests that they are succeeding.
Demand for actual phones has fallen because most people already have one. However, it hasn't evaporated completely. As with almost all commodities, manufacturers have intentionally designed their phones to have a short life. Usually the battery will pack in after about 3 years. This phenomenon is repeated in virtually every sector of the capitalist economy.
Take lightbulbs. If you were to fill a bulb with pure nitrogen, it would last forever. But manufacturers deliberately pump oxygen into their light bulbs so that they will corrode, and eventually need to be replaced. This insanity is an inevitable consequence of the capitalist profit motive. Firms put short-term profitability ahead of long-term sustainability. As a result we are consuming natural resources at an artificially contrived rate, so as to maintain the velocity of the trade cycle.
The crazy frog is the mascot of the corporate 'lets rape the earth' thugs. Damn it, damn it all the way to the fiery depths of hell!
31 May 2005, 16:03:24 GMT+01:00 – Like – Reply
Jazz Crazy frog on the top, this things just happen in this country.
2 comments:
Comments made on previous template:
David Farrer
Xenophobia? I think not.
The anonymous commenter suffers from a sense of humour failure, unlike this Frenchman
5 June 2005, 16:47:19 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
.
no defense for your xenophobia then?
5 June 2005, 12:41:11 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
markm
Smirnoff, they do sell long-life bulbs: flourescents. They cost more because they're considerably more complicated than a tungsten wire sealed in an evacuated glass bulb, but the power saved more than pays for it. Or buy LEDs for decades of life and great efficiency, at a much higher price. Don't blame the light bulb mfgs because you are too cheap to buy a better technology.
An incandescent bulb contains a white-hot thin metal wire. Heated metal burns in oxygen. If there was any oxygen around, the filament would burn out instantly - apply power, one bright flash, and that's it. Maybe photography flash bulbs work something like this, but standard bulbs contain a vacuum. The filament gradually evaporates until it gets too thin somewhere, then it breaks. You'll often see a thin silvery plating on part of an old bulb - that's the evaporated metal, which condensed on the relatively cooler glass.
Filling the bulb with pure nitrogen instead of vacuum might somewhat slow the evaporation, but it also costs more. (It takes quite a lot of energy to separate N2 from O2 and the other components of air.) It's questionable whether this is a worthwhile tradeoff.
Another option is to fill it with vacuum plus a small drop of of halogens (bromine and iodine, e.g.). These evaporate as the bulb heats up, so it's filled with a very thin gas. The evaporated metal reacts chemically with the halogens instead of plating out on the bulb. This enables you to run the filament hotter than usual and get a very bright light in a very tiny bulb without having the light blocked by the evaporated metal on the bulb. Halogen bulbs were originally developed for aircraft wingtip lights, which have to be pretty bright and fit in a thin space. But there's another advantage to halogens; they run hot enough to keep the tungsten bromide or iodide gaseous until they circulate back to the filament, then the heat of the filament breaks them down. That is, the metal is deposited back on the filament. It might not go back in the same place it came from, so over time some parts of the filament get thicker and other parts get thinner until they break, but it does extend the life of the bulb. OTOH, halogen bulbs cost considerably more, and they seem to be especially fragile.
4 June 2005, 10:46:43 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
Comrade_Smirnoff
Crosbie, if you filled a lightbulb up with 100% Nitrogen it'd last forever. The Oxygen reacts with the filament, thats why it eventually snuffs out.
2 June 2005, 19:32:46 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
Andrew Ian Dodge
Crazy Frog is an annoyonance to be sure but its success is a clear sign of a healthy (if tasteless) economy. And I have to say keeping that whingeing moron Chris Martin off the top spot is a great thing.
1 June 2005, 13:31:29 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
Andrew Duffin
Methinks Comrade Smirnoff has misplaced his tinfoil hat.
1 June 2005, 12:25:58 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
Crosbie
I thought lightbulbs failed because the filament evaporated, though the nitrogen retards this? Also, isn't the three year life of lithium-ion battery packs an intrinsic property of the salt and solvents used? Or was that post entirely tongue in cheek?
31 May 2005, 21:09:01 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
Comrade_Smirnoff
The irritating volume of advertising that we are subjected to for ringtones and other phone related gimmicks indicates that the corporations are attempting to cultivate new markets so as to compensate for the recent slump in demand for new phones. The success of the crazy frog suggests that they are succeeding.
Demand for actual phones has fallen because most people already have one. However, it hasn't evaporated completely. As with almost all commodities, manufacturers have intentionally designed their phones to have a short life. Usually the battery will pack in after about 3 years. This phenomenon is repeated in virtually every sector of the capitalist economy.
Take lightbulbs. If you were to fill a bulb with pure nitrogen, it would last forever. But manufacturers deliberately pump oxygen into their light bulbs so that they will corrode, and eventually need to be replaced. This insanity is an inevitable consequence of the capitalist profit motive. Firms put short-term profitability ahead of long-term sustainability. As a result we are consuming natural resources at an artificially contrived rate, so as to maintain the velocity of the trade cycle.
The crazy frog is the mascot of the corporate 'lets rape the earth' thugs. Damn it, damn it all the way to the fiery depths of hell!
31 May 2005, 16:03:24 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply
Jazz
Crazy frog on the top, this things just happen in this country.
31 May 2005, 12:42:01 GMT+01:00
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