How Fluorescent Lamps Work

by Tom Harris
You see fluorescent lighting everywhere these days -- in offices, stores, warehouses,
street corners... You'll even find fluorescent lamps in peoples' homes. But even though
they're all around us, these devices are a total mystery to most people. J ust what is going
on inside those white tubes?

In this article, we'll find out how fluorescent lamps emit such a bright glow without getting
scalding hot like an ordinary light bulb. We'll also find out why fluorescent lamps are more
efficient than incandescent lighting, and see how this technology is used in other sorts of
lamps.
Let There Be Light
To understand fluorescent lamps, it helps to know a little about light itself. Light is a form
of energy that can be released by an atom. It is made up of many small particle-like
packets that have energy and momentum but no mass. These particles, called light
photons, are the most basic units of light. (For more information, see How Light Works.)
Atoms release light photons when their electrons become excited. If you've read How
Atoms Work, then you know electrons are the negatively charged particles that move
around an atom's nucleus (which has a net positive charge). An atom's electrons have
different levels of energy, depending on several factors, including their speed and
distance from the nucleus. Electrons of different energy levels occupy different orbitals.
Generally speaking, electrons with greater energy move in orbitals farther away from the
nucleus.

When an atom gains or loses energy, the change is expressed by the movement of
electrons. When something passes energy on to an atom -- heat, for example -- an
electron may be temporarily boosted to a higher orbital (farther away from the nucleus).
The electron only holds this position for a tiny fraction of a second; almost immediately, it
is drawn back toward the nucleus, to its original orbital. As it returns to its original orbital,
the electron releases the extra energy in the form of a photon, in some cases a light
photon.
The wavelength of the emitted light depends on how much energy is released, which
depends on the particular position of the electron. Consequently, different sorts of atoms
will release different sorts of light photons. In other words, the color of the light is
determined by what kind of atom is excited.
This is the basic mechanism at work in nearly all light sources. The main difference
between these sources is the process of exciting the atoms. In an incandescent light
source, such as an ordinary light bulb or gas lamp, atoms are excited by heat; in a light
stick, atoms are excited by a chemical reaction. Fluorescent lamps have one of the most
elaborate systems for exciting atoms, as we'll see in the next section.
Down the Tubes
The central element in a fluorescent lamp is a sealed glass tube. The tube contains a
small bit of mercury and an inert gas, typically argon, kept under very low pressure. The
tube also contains a phosphor powder, coated along the inside of the glass. The tube
has two electrodes, one at each end, which are wired to an electrical circuit. The
electrical circuit, which we'll examine later, is hooked up to an alternating current (AC)
supply

When you turn the lamp on, the current flows through the electrical circuit to the
electrodes. There is a considerable voltage across the electrodes, so electrons will
migrate through the gas from one end of the tube to the other. This energy changes
some of the mercury in the tube from a liquid to a gas. As electrons and charged atoms
move through the tube, some of them will collide with the gaseous mercury atoms.
These collisions excite the atoms, bumping electrons up to higher energy levels. When
the electrons return to their original energy level, they release light photons.
As we saw in the last section, the wavelength of a photon is determined by the particular
electron arrangement in the atom. The electrons in mercury atoms are arranged in such
a way that they mostly release light photons in the ultraviolet wavelength range. Our
eyes don't register ultraviolet photons, so this sort of light needs to be converted into
visible light to illuminate the lamp.
This is where the tube's phosphor powder coating comes in. Phosphors are substances
that give off light when they are exposed to light. When a photon hits a phosphor atom,
one of the phosphor's electrons jumps to a higher energy level and the atom heats up.
When the electron falls back to its normal level, it releases energy in the form of another
photon. This photon has less energy than the original photon, because some energy was
lost as heat. In a fluorescent lamp, the emitted light is in the visible spectrum -- the
phosphor gives off white light we can see. Manufacturers can vary the color of the light
by using different combinations of phosphors.
Conventional incandescent light bulbs also emit a good bit of ultraviolet light, but they do
not convert any of it to visible light. Consequently, a lot of the energy used to power an
incandescent lamp is wasted. A fluorescent lamp puts this invisible light to work, and so
is more efficient. Incandescent lamps also lose more energy through heat emission than
do fluorescent lamps. Overall, a typical fluorescent lamp is four to six times more efficient
than an incandescent lamp. People generally use incandescent lights in the home,
however, since they emit a "warmer" light -- a light with more red and less blue.
As we've seen, the entire fluorescent lamp system depends on an electrical current
flowing through the gas in the glass tube. In the next section, we'll see what a fluorescent
lamp needs to do to establish this current.
Cooking with Gas
Sources of Light
Fluorescent lamps are just one
lighting application of a gas
discharge tube. Black lights
are essentially fluorescent
lamps without a phosphor
coating. They mostly emit
ultraviolet light, which causes
phosphors outside of the lamp
to emit visible light (click here to
learn more).

Neon lights are gas discharge
lamps containing gases, such
as neon, that release colored
visible light when stimulated by
electrons and ions. Many street
In the last section, we saw that mercury atoms in a
fluorescent lamp's glass tube are excited by electrons
flowing in an electrical current. This electrical current is
something like the current in an ordinary wire, but it passes through gas instead of
through a solid. Gas conductors differ from solid conductors in a number of ways.
In a solid conductor, electrical charge is carried by free electrons jumping from atom to
atom, from a negatively-charged area to a positively-charged area. As we've seen,
electrons always have a negative charge, which means they are always drawn toward
positive charges. In a gas, electrical charge is carried by free electrons moving
independently of atoms. Current is also carried by ions, atoms that have an electrical
charge because they have lost or gained an electron. Like electrons, ions are drawn to
oppositely charged areas.
To send a current through gas in a tube, then, a fluorescent light needs to have two
things:
1. Free electrons and ions
2. A difference in charge between the two ends of the tube (a voltage)
Generally, there are few ions and free electrons in a gas, because all of the atoms
naturally maintain a neutral charge. Consequently, it is difficult to conduct an electrical
current through most gases. When you turn on a fluorescent lamp, the first thing it needs
to do is introduce many new free electrons from both electrodes.
There are several different ways of doing this, as we'll see in the next couple of sections.
Start it Up
The classic fluorescent lamp design, which has fallen mostly by the wayside, used a
special starter switch mechanism to light up the tube. You can see how this system
works in the diagram below.

When the lamp first turns on, the path of least resistance is through the bypass circuit,
and across the starter switch. In this circuit, the current passes through the electrodes
on both ends of the tube. These electrodes are simple filaments, like you would find in
an incandescent light bulb. When the current runs through the bypass circuit, electricity
heats up the filaments. This boils off electrons from the metal surface, sending them into
the gas tube, ionizing the gas.
lights use a similar system, with
different sorts of gases.
At the same time, the electrical current sets off an interesting sequence of events in the
starter switch. The conventional starter switch is a small discharge bulb, containing neon
or some other gas. The bulb has two electrodes positioned right next to each other.
When electricity is initially passed through the bypass circuit, an electrical arc
(essentially, a flow of charged particles) jumps between these electrodes to make a
connection. This arc lights the bulb in the same way a larger arc lights a fluorescent bulb.

One of the electrodes is a bimetallic strip that bends when it is heated. The small
amount of heat from the lit bulb bends the bimetallic strip so it makes contact with the
other electrode. With the two electrodes touching each other, the current doesn't need to
jump as an arc anymore. Consequently, there are no charged particles flowing through
the gas, and the light goes out. Without the heat from the light, the bimetallic strip cools,
bending away from the other electrode. This opens the circuit.

Inside the casing of a conventional fluorescent starter there is
a small gas discharge lamp.
By the time this happens, the filaments have already ionized the gas in the fluorescent
tube, creating an electrically conductive medium. The tube just needs a voltage kick
across the electrodes to establish an electrical arc. This kick is provided by the lamp's
ballast, a special sort of transformer wired into the circuit.
When the current flows through the bypass circuit, it establishes a magnetic field in part
of the ballast. This magnetic field is maintained by the flowing current. When the starter
switch is opened, the current is briefly cut off from the ballast. The magnetic field
collapses, which creates a sudden jump in current -- the ballast releases its stored
energy.

The ballast, starter switch and fluorescent bulb are all wired
together in a simple circuit.
This surge in current helps build the initial voltage needed to establish the electrical arc
through the gas. Instead of flowing through the bypass circuit and jumping across the gap
in the starter switch, the electrical current flows through the tube. The free electrons
collide with the atoms, knocking loose other electrons, which creates ions. The result is a
plasma, a gas composed largely of ions and free electrons, all moving freely. This
creates a path for an electrical current.
The impact of flying electrons keeps the two filaments warm, so they continue to emit
new electrons into the plasma. As long as there is AC current, and the filaments aren't
worn out, current will continue to flow through the tube.
The problem with this sort of lamp is it takes a few seconds for it to light up. These days,
most fluorescent lamps are designed to light up almost instantly. In the next section, we'll
see how these modern designs work.
Light Right Away
Today, the most popular fluorescent lamp design is the rapid start lamp. This design
works on the same basic principle as the traditional starter lamp, but it doesn't have a
starter switch. Instead, the lamp's ballast constantly channels current through both
electrodes. This current flow is configured so that there is a charge difference between
the two electrodes, establishing a voltage across the tube.
When the fluorescent light is turned on, both electrode filaments heat up very quickly,
boiling off electrons, which ionize the gas in the tube. Once the gas is ionized, the voltage
difference between the electrodes establishes an electrical arc. The flowing charged
particles (red) excite the mercury atoms (silver), triggering the illumination process.

Rapid start and starter switch fluorescent bulbs have two pins
that slide against two contact points in an electrical circuit.
An alternative method, used in instant-start fluorescent lamps, is to apply a very high
initial voltage to the electrodes. This high voltage creates a corona discharge. Essentially,
an excess of electrons on the electrode surface forces some electrons into the gas.
These free electrons ionize the gas, and almost instantly the voltage difference between
the electrodes establishes an electrical arc.
No matter how the starting mechanism is configured, the end result is the same: a flow of
electrical current through an ionized gas. This sort of gas discharge has a peculiar and
problematic quality: If the current isn't carefully controlled, it will continually increase, and
possibly explode the light fixture. In the next section, we'll find out why this is and see
how a fluorescent lamp keeps things running smoothly.
Ballast Balance
We saw in the last section that gases don't conduct electricity in the same way as solids.
One major difference between solids and gases is their electrical resistance (the
opposition to flowing electricity). In a solid metal conductor such as a wire, resistance is a
constant at any given temperature, controlled by the size of the conductor and the nature
of the material.
In a gas discharge, such as a fluorescent lamp, current causes resistance to decrease.
This is because as more electrons and ions flow through a particular area, they bump
into more atoms, which frees up electrons, creating more charged particles. In this way,
current will climb on its own in a gas discharge, as long as there is adequate voltage (and
household AC current has a lot of voltage). If the current in a fluorescent light isn't
controlled, it can blow out the various electrical components.
A fluorescent lamp's ballast works to control this. The simplest sort of ballast, generally
referred to as a magnetic ballast, works something like an inductor. A basic inductor
consists of a coil of wire in a circuit, which may be wound around a piece of metal. If
you've read How Electromagnets Work, you know that when you send electrical current
through a wire, it generates a magnetic field. Positioning the wire in concentric loops
amplifies this field.
This sort of field affects not only objects around the loop, but also the loop itself.
Increasing the current in the loop increases the magnetic field, which applies a voltage
opposite the flow of current in the wire. In short, a coiled length of wire in a circuit (an
inductor) opposes change in the current flowing through it (see How Inductors Work for
details). The transformer elements in a magnetic ballast use this principle to regulate
the current in a fluorescent lamp.
A ballast can only slow down changes in current -- it can't stop them. But the alternating
current powering a fluorescent light is constantly reversing itself, so the ballast only has
to inhibit increasing current in a particular direction for a short amount of time. Check out
this site for more information on this process.
Magnetic ballasts modulate electrical current at a relatively low cycle rate, which can
cause a noticeable flicker. Magnetic ballasts may also vibrate at a low frequency. This is
the source of the audible humming sound people associate with fluorescent lamps.
Modern ballast designs use advanced electronics to more precisely regulate the current
flowing through the electrical circuit. Since they use a higher cycle rate, you don't
generally notice a flicker or humming noise coming from an electronic ballast. Different
lamps require specialized ballasts designed to maintain the specific voltage and current
levels needed for varying tube designs.
Fluorescent lamps come in all shapes and sizes, but they all work on the same basic
principle: An electric current stimulates mercury atoms, which causes them to release
ultraviolet photons. These photons in turn stimulate a phosphor, which emits visible light
photons. At the most basic level, that's all there is to it!
To learn more about this remarkable technology, including descriptions of various lamp
designs, check out the links on the next page.

Are fluorescent bulbs really more efficient than
normal light bulbs?
A "normal light bulb" is also known as an incandescent light bulb. These bulbs have a
very thin tungsten filament that is housed inside a glass sphere. They typically come in
sizes like "60 watt," "75 watt," "100 watt" and so on.
The basic idea behind these bulbs is simple. Electricity runs through the filament.
Because the filament is so thin, it offers a good bit of resistance to the electricity, and this
resistance turns electrical energy into heat. The heat is enough to make the filament
white hot, and the "white" part is light. The filament glows because of the heat -- it
incandesces.
The problem with incandescent light bulbs is that the heat wastes a lot of electricity. Heat
is not light, and the purpose of the light bulb is light, so all of the energy spent creating
heat is a waste. Incandescent bulbs are therefore very inefficient. They produce perhaps
15 lumens per watt of input power.
A fluorescent bulb uses a completely different method to produce light. There are
electrodes at both ends of a fluorescent tube, and a gas containing argon and mercury
vapor is inside the tube. A stream of electrons flows through the gas from one electrode
to the other (in a manner similar to the stream of electrons in a cathode ray tube). These
electrons bump into the mercury atoms and excite them. As the mercury atoms move
from the excited state back to the unexcited state, they give off ultraviolet photons.
These photons hit the phosphor coating the inside of the fluorescent tube, and this
phosphor creates visible light. It sounds complicated, so lets go through it again in slow
motion:
There is a stream of electrons flowing between the electrodes at both ends of the
fluorescent bulb.
The electrons interact with mercury vapor atoms floating inside the bulb.
The mercury atoms become excited, and when they return to an unexcited state
they release photons of light in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum.
These ultraviolet photons collide with the phosphor coating the inside of the bulb,
and the phosphor creates visible light.
The phosphor fluoresces to produce light.
A fluorescent bulb produces less heat, so it is much more efficient. A fluorescent bulb can
produce between 50 and 100 lumens per watt. This makes fluorescent bulbs four to
six times more efficient than incandescent bulbs. That's why you can buy a 15-watt
fluorescent bulb that produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.