We are always and everywhere surrounded by light, as it is an integral part of life. Fire, the sun, the moon, or a table lamp all fall into this category. Now our task will be to consider natural and artificial light sources.
Before, people didn't have smart alarm clocks and cell phones to help us get up when needed. This function was performed by the Sun. It has risen - people begin work, the village - go to rest. But, over time, we learned how to produce artificial light sources, we will talk about them in the article in more detail. You need to start with the most important concept.
Light
In a general sense, it is a wave (electromagnetic) that is perceived by the human organs of vision. But still there are frames that a person sees (from 380 to 780 nm). Before that comes ultraviolet radiation. Although we do not see it, our skin perceives it (sunburn), after this framework infrared radiation comes, some living organismssee, and a person perceives it as warm.
Now let's look at this question: why does light come in different colors? It all depends on the wavelength, for example, purple is formed by a beam of 380 nm, green is 500 nm, and red is 625. In general, there are 7 primary colors that we can observe during such a phenomenon as a rainbow. But many, especially artificial light sources, emit white waves. Even if you take a light bulb that hangs in your room, with a probability of 90 percent, it illuminates with white light. So, it is obtained by mixing all the primary colors:
- Red.
- Orange.
- Yellow.
- Green.
- Blue.
- Blue.
- Purple.
They are very easy to remember, many people use these lines: every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting. And the first letters of each word indicate the color, by the way, in the rainbow they are located in exactly that order. After we have de alt with the concept itself, we propose to move on to the question "Light sources, natural and artificial." We will analyze each type in detail.
Light sources
There is not a single branch of the economy in our time that would not use artificial light sources in its production. When did man first start producing artificial lighting? This was back in the nineteenth century, and the invention of arc and incandescent lamps served as the reason for the development of the industry.
Natural and artificial light sources are bodies that are capable of emitting light, or rather, converting one energy into another. For example, an electric current into an electromagnetic wave. An artificial light source operating on this principle is the electric light bulb, which is so common in everyday life.
We said in the last section that not all light is perceived by our organs of vision, but nevertheless, the source of light is the object that emits waves invisible to our eyes.
Classification
Let's start with the fact that they are all divided into two large classes:
- Artificial light sources (lamps, burners, candles, etc.).
- Natural (the light of the Sun, the Moon, the shining of the stars, etc.).
In this case, each class, in turn, is divided into groups and subgroups. Let's start with the first, artificial sources distinguish:
- Thermal.
- Fluorescent.
- LED.
We will definitely consider a more detailed classification below. The second class includes the following:
- Sun.
- Interstellar gas and the stars themselves.
- Atmospheric discharges.
- Bioluminescence.
Natural light sources
All objects that emit light of natural origin are natural sources. In this case, the emission of light can be both a primary and a secondary property. If we comparenatural and artificial light sources, examples of which we have already considered, their main difference lies in the fact that the latter emit light visible to our eye thanks to a person, or rather, production.
First of all, what comes to everyone's mind, the natural source is the Sun, which is the source of light and heat for our entire planet. Also natural sources are stars and comets, electrical discharges (for example, lightning during a thunderstorm), the glow of living organisms, this process is also called bioluminescence (an example is fireflies, some aquatic organisms that live on the bottom, and so on). Natural light sources play a very important role for both humans and other living organisms.
Types of artificial light sources
Why do we need them? Imagine how our life will change without the usual lamps, nightlights and similar devices. What is the purpose of artificial light? In creating a favorable environment and visibility conditions for a person, thereby maintaining he alth and well-being, reducing fatigue of the organs of vision.
Artificial light sources can be divided into two rather extensive groups:
- General.
- Combined.
For example, about the first group, all production areas are always illuminated with the same type of lamps, which are located at the same distance from each other and the power of the lampsis the same. If we talk about the second group, then a few more lamps are added to the above, which more strongly highlight any work surface, for example, a table or a machine. These additional sources are called local lighting. At the same time, if only local lighting is used, this will greatly affect fatigue, and the result will be a decrease in efficiency, in addition, accidents and accidents at work are possible.
Working, duty and emergency lighting
If we consider the classification of artificial sources in terms of functionality, we can distinguish the following groups:
- Working;
- On duty;
- Emergency.
Now a little more about each species. Work lighting is available wherever it is necessary to keep people working or to illuminate the path for oncoming traffic. The second class of lighting begins to function after working hours. The last group is needed to maintain production in the event of a shutdown of the main (working) light source, it is minimal, but can temporarily replace working lighting.
Incandescent lamp
In our time, the following types of incandescent lamps are used to illuminate production areas:
- Halogen.
- Gas discharge.
And what is an incandescent lamp anyway? The first thing you should pay attention to is that it is an electrical source, and we see light thanks to a hot body called a filament body. Previously (innineteenth century) the filament body was made from a substance such as tungsten, or from an alloy based on it. Now it is made from more affordable carbon fiber.
Types, advantages and disadvantages
Now industrial enterprises produce a large number of various incandescent lamps, among which the most popular are:
- Vacuum.
- Krypton-filled lamps.
- Bispiral.
- Filled with a mixture of argon and nitrogen gases.
Now let's look at the last question that concerns incandescent lamps, namely the advantages and disadvantages. Pros: they are inexpensive to manufacture, they are small in size, if you turn them on, you do not need to wait until it flares up, toxic components are not used in the production of incandescent lamps, they work on both direct and alternating current, a dimmer can be used, good uninterrupted work even at very low temperatures. Despite such a large number of advantages, there are still disadvantages: they do not shine very brightly, the light has a yellowish tint, they get very hot during operation, which sometimes leads to fires when in contact with textile material.
Discharge lamp
They are all divided into high and low pressure lamps, most of them work on mercury vapor. It was they who replaced incandescent lamps, to which we are so accustomed, but gas-discharge lamps simply have masses of minuses, one of which we have already said, namelythe possibility of poisoning with mercury, we can also include noise, flicker, which leads to faster fatigue, a linear radiation spectrum, and so on.
Such lamps can serve us up to twenty thousand hours, of course, if the bulb is intact, and the light emitted from it is either warm or neutral white.
The use of artificial light sources is quite common, for example, discharge lamps are very often used to this day in shops or offices, in decorative or artistic lighting, by the way, professional lighting equipment also could not do without a gas discharge lamp.
Now the production of gas discharge lamps is very common, which entails a large number of types, one of the most popular we will consider right now.
Fluorescent lamp
As already mentioned, this is one of the types of gas discharge lamps. It is worth noting that they are often used for the main light source, fluorescent lamps are much more powerful than incandescent lamps and at the same time they consume the same energy. Since we have already begun a comparison with incandescent lamps, the following fact will also be relevant - the service life of fluorescent lamps can exceed the life of incandescent lamps twenty times.
As for their varieties, they often use a mercury lamp that resembles a tube, and inside there are mercury vapor. This is a very economical light source that is common in public places (schools, hospitals, offices, and so on).
Natural and artificial light sources, examples of which we have examined, are simplynecessary for humans and other living beings of our planet. Natural sources do not let us get lost in time, while artificial sources take care of our he alth and well-being in enterprises, reducing the percentage of accidents and accidents.
