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 this belongs to this category. Now our task will be to consider natural and artificial light sources.
Previously, people did not have ingenious alarms and cell phones that help us get up when necessary. This function was performed by the sun. It got up - people start work, the village - go to rest. But, over time, we learned how to get artificial light sources, we will talk about them in the article in more detail. You need to start with the most basic concept.
Shine
In a general sense, it is a wave (electromagnetic) that is perceived by the human organs of vision. But still there is a framework that a person sees (from 380 to 780 nm). Before this comes ultraviolet radiation. Although we do not see it, but our skin perceives it (tanning), infrared radiation comes after these frames, some living organisms see it, and it is perceived by humans as heat.
Now let's look at the following question: why is the light different in color? It all depends on the wavelength, for example, violet color is formed by a beam of wavelengths of 380 nm, green - 500 nm, and red - 625. In general, there are 7 primary colors that we can observe during a phenomenon like rainbow. But many, especially artificial light sources, emit white waves. Even if you take a light bulb that hangs in your room with a 90 percent probability, it illuminates with a white light. So, it is obtained by mixing all the primary colors:
- Of red.
- Orange.
- Yellow.
- Green.
- Blue.
- Blue.
- Purple.
They are very easy to remember, many use such lines: each hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits. And the first letters of each word indicate the color, by the way, in the rainbow they are located exactly in that order. After we figured out the concept itself, we propose moving on to the question " Natural and artificial light sources ." We will analyze each view in detail.
Sources of light
In our time, there is not a single branch of the economy that would not use artificial light sources in its production. When did man first start producing artificial lighting? This was in the distant nineteenth century, and the development of the industry was the invention of arc and incandescent lamps.
Natural and artificial light sources are bodies that are capable of emitting light, or rather, converting one energy to another. For example, an electric current in an electromagnetic wave. An artificial light source operating according to this principle is a 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 that object that emits waves that are invisible to our eye.
Classification
To begin with, they are all divided into two large classes:
- Artificial light sources (lamps, burners, candles and so on).
- Natural (light of the Sun, Moon, shining stars, etc.).
Moreover, each class, in turn, is divided into groups and subgroups. Let's start with the first, artificial sources distinguish:
- Thermal.
- Luminescent.
- LED light.
A more detailed classification is sure to be considered below. The second class includes the following:
- The sun.
- Interstellar gas and the stars themselves.
- Atmospheric discharges.
- Bioluminescence
Natural light sources
All objects emitting 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 compare natural and artificial light sources, examples of which we have already examined, then their main difference is that the latter emit light visible to our eye thanks to man, 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 luminescence of living organisms, this process is also called bioluminescence (fireflies, some aquatic organisms living 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 all the usual lamps, night lights and the like. What is the purpose of artificial light? In creating a favorable environment and conditions of visibility for a person, thereby maintaining health and well-being, reducing eye fatigue.
Artificial light sources can be divided into two fairly extensive groups:
For example, about the first group, all production areas are always illuminated by the same type of lamps, which are located at the same distance from each other and the power of the lamps is the same. If we talk about the second group, then a few more fixtures are added to the above, which more strongly emit any working surface, for example, a table or a machine. These additional sources are called local lighting. At the same time, if you use only local lighting, this will greatly affect fatigue, and the result will be a decrease in working capacity, in addition, accidents and industrial accidents are possible.
Work, emergency and emergency lighting
If we consider the classification of artificial sources from the point of view of functional purpose, then we can distinguish the following groups:
- Working;
- Attendant;
- Emergency
Now a little more about each type. Work lighting is everywhere where it is necessary to maintain the working capacity of people or to illuminate the path for going transport. The second class of lighting begins to function after working hours. The last group is needed to maintain production in the event of a main (working) light source being turned off; it is minimal, but can temporarily replace working lighting.
Incandescent lamp
Nowadays, incandescent lamps of the following types are used to illuminate production sites:
And what is an incandescent lamp? The first thing you should pay attention to is that it is an electric source, and we see the light thanks to a red-hot body, called a glow body. Earlier (in the nineteenth century), the body of the filament 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 we will analyze the last question that relates to incandescent lamps, namely the advantages and disadvantages. Pros: they are inexpensive to manufacture, have a small 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 both on constant and alternating current, it is possible to use a dimmer, 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 heat up very much during operation, which sometimes leads to fires in contact with textile material.
Discharge lamp
All of them are divided into high and low pressure lamps, most of them work on mercury vapor. It was they who displaced the incandescent lamps, to which we are so accustomed to, but gas-discharge lamps have just a mass of minuses, one of which we have already said, namely the possibility to take pleasure in mercury, we can also include noises, flicker, which leads to faster fatigue, 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 has either a warm or neutral white color.
The use of artificial light sources is quite common, for example, gas discharge lamps are still very often used 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 species, we will consider one of the most popular right now.
Fluorescent Lamp
As already mentioned, this is one of the types of discharge lamp. 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 the comparison with incandescent lamps, the following fact will be appropriate: the luminescent life can exceed twenty times the duration of incandescent lamps.
As for their varieties, they often use a mercury lamp resembling a tube, and inside are mercury vapor. This is a very economical light source, which is common in public institutions (schools, hospitals, offices and so on).
Natural and artificial light sources, examples of which we examined, are simply necessary for man and other living beings of our planet. Natural sources do not allow us to get lost in time, while artificial ones take care of our health and well-being in enterprises, reducing the percentage of accidents and accidents.