Get Lit, Stay Lit

Zoinks! Its me Dr. Z! Light bulbs are in the news all over the place and its seems that everybody’s atom are getting excited about the possibility of the perfect light source.. and speaking of excited atoms check out the story below on how “excited”

Study looks at ‘excited’ lightbulb atomsJuly 10, 2009 – 5:24PM A groundbreaking study measuring how long atoms stay “excited” could help scientists build better and more energy efficient lightbulbs, its authors say. Researchers from the Australian National University in Canberra found excited helium atoms – a key ingredient in most fluorescent lighting – remained in that state for 8,000 seconds or just over two hours. The precise finding could lead the way to building more efficient lights, Professor Ken Baldwin said. The year-long study shone a light into the murky world of excited atoms, he said. “Without that exact data, you are in some degree working in the dark,” he told AAP. “It’s a piece of fundamental scientific evidence that could be well utilised in the lighting industry.” Lightbulbs are charged by igniting gases, such as helium, with electricity, Prof Baldwin said. This simple discovery of knowing how long atoms stay excited would help technicians to potentially use less electricity. The research team used lasers to isolate a cloud of helium atoms within a vacuum, measuring the rate at which they emitted ultraviolet photons to revert back to their normal, stable state. Prof Baldwin said there had been just one earlier attempt by scientists to measure the duration of excited helium atoms, but it had not been accurate. This latest finding was correct to within six per cent.