Incandescent Filiment Support Prongs?

[C. Nick Kruzer]

Are the filiment support prongs in an ordinary household incandescent
light bulb made of Nickel metal or some type of Nickel alloy?

They look shiny like stainless steel.

I've been using them as points in negative ion generator experiments.
I'm wondering about the release of the small amounts, if any, of
volatile metals into the surrounding breathable atmosphere.

I've also played with the shiny prongs using them as small electrodes
for water electrolysis with a 9v battery.

Now that I've replaced all my household screw-in incandescent lights
with compact fluorescent units I have been messing around with the
rejected incandescent bulbs.

Using a jeweler's saw I open the bulbs near the most distal portion of
the electrical contact end. The internal components are then carefully
removed. If you do this you should wear gloves and safety
glasses/goggles. Glass chips will fly.
(Reminder: Don't break open fluorescent bulbs, they contain mercury.)

insula

 

[Paul Carpenter]

In article <486a101e.590892@news.sysmatrix.net>, NoSpam@daqarta.com
says...

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:29:21 -0700, insula@webtv.net (C. Nick Kruzer)
wrote:

Are the filiment support prongs in an ordinary household incandescent
light bulb made of Nickel metal or some type of Nickel alloy?

They look shiny like stainless steel.

I've been using them as points in negative ion generator experiments.
I'm wondering about the release of the small amounts, if any, of
volatile metals into the surrounding breathable atmosphere.

I've also played with the shiny prongs using them as small electrodes
for water electrolysis with a 9v battery.

Now that I've replaced all my household screw-in incandescent lights
with compact fluorescent units I have been messing around with the
rejected incandescent bulbs.

Using a jeweler's saw I open the bulbs near the most distal portion of
the electrical contact end. The internal components are then carefully
removed. If you do this you should wear gloves and safety
glasses/goggles. Glass chips will fly.
(Reminder: Don't break open fluorescent bulbs, they contain mercury.)

All sorts of phosphors on the inside of the glass as well.

Incandescent bulbs may be hazardous as well: Animal studies of
tungsten shrapnel show that it is a very powerful carcinogen. I don't
know how tungsten dust (which I assume must be inside the envelope
after the filament burns out) would behave in the lungs, but I suspect
the answer would be "not good".

Considering the original quantity of tungsten, and distribution of
'shrapnel', you have a low probability of ingest (stomach/lungs) enough
tungsten to be more than a minor irritant. From recollection it is
difficult to absorb tungsten through skin contact.

In this case the poster referes to GOOD bulbs not burnt out ones, and
trying not to smash the glass. So the shrapnel is minimised.

More likely to have dust problems with types of bulbs that are internally
coated with phospors.

This may not be an environmental hazard like mercury in landfills, but
on a personal experimenter basis it may be much worse. (My
understanding is that mercury is a problem mostly in organically
active forms like methyl mercury, not as a raw element.)

As a raw element at room temperature it will form a gaseoues mercury
vapour and some Mercury Oxide that can easily be breathed in, often seen
looking like a heat haze above raw mercury. What quantities you should
worry about I have no idea. Any heating of mercury is always suggest to
be done in VERY well ventilated areas.

Methylmercury is usually created by bacterias reacting with mercury,
there are many different types of bacteria on and in our bodies.

Heating Mercury Oxide to a fairly high temperature decomposes the solid
form back to mercury and oxygen (see Preistley's experiments often hailed
as the discovery of oxygen). This is one method used to refine Mercury
from some types of ore.

Mercury can be absorbed through the skin

http://www.npi.gov.au/database/substance-info/profiles/53.html

http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/ME/mercury_II_oxide.html

To think this element was used for cosmetic and HEALTH giving properties
for thousand of years and gave rise to the expression

"As mad as a hatter"

Lots of lighthouses use a bed of mercury for the load bearing of the
rotating lenses for the lights. These places are usually well ventilated!

Nearly all fluorescents have phospor coatings on the inside of the tubes
also very nasty in dust form.

--
Paul Carpenter | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/> PC Services
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[John Fields]

On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 13:48:57 +0100, Paul Carpenter
<paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> wrote:

Nearly all fluorescents have phospor coatings on the inside of the tubes
also very nasty in dust form.

---
http://www.geconsumerandindustrial.com/environmentalinfo/documents/msds/msds_fluorescent_lamps.pdf

JF

 

[whit3rd]

On Jun 30, 4:29 am, ins...@webtv.net (C. Nick Kruzer) wrote:

Are the filiment support prongs in an ordinary household incandescent
light bulb made of Nickel metal or some type of Nickel alloy?

Yes, usually. The old standard way to secure wires in glass,
or to feed wires through a glass bulb, is to use Kovar wire
(see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kovar&gt and a selected
type of glass for the bulb base assembly (though the bulb
fused to the base might be a different material).

 

[bud--]

C. Nick Kruzer wrote:

Are the filiment support prongs in an ordinary household incandescent
light bulb made of Nickel metal or some type of Nickel alloy?

They look shiny like stainless steel.
..

You could try asking at sci.engr.lighting
It has some very smart people.

From an old thread there, a couple opinions (not certain) were
iron or nickel-plated iron
molybdenum

Might make a difference between center supports (on some lamps) and end
supports.

--
bud--