Three main light sources used today

All electric light sources are usually called lamps or bulbs, in this article we will refer to them as lamps.

Incandescent Lamps

Incandescent lamps have been the most widely used lamp throughout the world since 1879, when they were first commercialized for sale to the public. The incandescent lamp slowly began to replace gas lighting and candle light in the interior of the home and the exterior of the home.

Incandescent lamps contain a wire filament inside a glass bulb. When electricity is passed through the wire filament, the filament is heated and it glows. This glow is called incandesces which produces light and a lot of heat. Halogen lamps are also a type of incandescent source just more efficient than the standard incandescent lamp. Incandescent lamps have been the most popular light source for residential applications since.

Household lamp	PAR Halogen Lamp	MR16 Halogen Lamp

Fluorescent Lamps

Fluorescent lamps were introduced in 1939 as the best and most efficient light source for industrial and office lighting. These fluorescent lamps create light very efficiently and last a long time, which is why they have been perfect for industrial and commercial applications. Large improvements in fluorescent lamp color rendition have made fluorescent lamps more popular in residential homes. Scientists have been producing fluorescent lamps that have very similar color to the incandescent lamps.

Fluorescent lamps create light through a three step process. The lamp generates an electric arc (electric current through a glass). Then the arc stimulates the gas inside the tube, which emits ultraviolet energy, this stimulates a phosphor coating inside the lamp. The phosphors glow, or fluoresce, to produce light. Fluorescent lamps come in fluorescent tubes or compact fluorescent lamps.

Fluorescent Tube	Household CFL	Spiral CFL