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what is fluorescent lamp?
Fluorescent light bulbs are a type of light bulb that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. When the gas reaches a certain energy level, it begins to give off photons at certain wavelengths that cause the lamp to produce visible light. Compared to traditional incandescent lamps, fluorescent light bulbs are more costly to purchase, but use electricity much more efficiently. They also last much longer, but are complicated to dispose of properly, and the light they produce does not lend itself to most color photography as well as incandescent light does.
The chemical and electrical principles by which fluorescent light bulbs operate are quite complex, but the general idea is simple enough to be summed up briefly. Inside the fluorescent lamp is a mixture of gases at very low pressure, which includes mercury vapor. When an electron collides with an atom of the gas, the atom is temporarily raised to a higher energy state.
Fluorescent light bulbs eventually "burn out" when the mercury is absorbed by the inner parts of the lamp, and when other chemical balances inside the lamp are lost. During their long life, though, they use much less energy than incandescent lamps do to produce the same amount of light. This efficiency has led to interest in fluorescent light bulbs as replacements for older types. In recent years, this replacement -- in the form of compact fluorescent light bulbs -- has seen an increasing degree of popularity.

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are designed to mimic the light produced by incandescent lamps, and are roughly the same size.


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