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-- The accidental invention that will change all our lives...
The accidental invention that will change all our lives...
Very cool... 
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Accidental Invention Points to End of Light Bulbs By Bjorn Carey LiveScience Staff Writer posted: 21 October 2005 03:21 pm ET The main light source of the future will almost surely not be a bulb. It might be a table, a wall, or even a fork. An accidental discovery announced this week has taken LED lighting to a new level, suggesting it could soon offer a cheaper, longer-lasting alternative to the traditional light bulb. The miniature breakthrough adds to a growing trend that is likely to eventually make Thomas Edison's bright invention obsolete. LEDs are already used in traffic lights, flashlights, and architectural lighting. They are flexible and operate less expensively than traditional lighting. Happy accident Michael Bowers, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, was just trying to make really small quantum dots, which are crystals generally only a few nanometers big. That's less than 1/1000th the width of a human hair. Quantum dots contain anywhere from 100 to 1,000 electrons. They're easily excited bundles of energy, and the smaller they are, the more excited they get. Each dot in Bower's particular batch was exceptionally small, containing only 33 or 34 pairs of atoms. When you shine a light on quantum dots or apply electricity to them, they react by producing their own light, normally a bright, vibrant color. But when Bowers shined a laser on his batch of dots, something unexpected happened. "I was surprised when a white glow covered the table," Bowers said. "The quantum dots were supposed to emit blue light, but instead they were giving off a beautiful white glow." Then Bowers and another student got the idea to stir the dots into polyurethane and coat a blue LED light bulb with the mix. The lumpy bulb wasn't pretty, but it produced white light similar to a regular light bulb.  White light from Bowers' lumpy new bulb. The new device gives off a warm, yellowish-white light that shines twice as bright and lasts 50 times longer than the standard 60 watt light bulb. This work is published online in the Oct. 18 edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Better than bulbs Until the last decade, LEDs could only produce green, red, and yellow light, which limited their use. Then came blue LEDs, which have since been altered to emit white light with a light-blue hue. LEDs produce twice as much light as a regular 60 watt bulb and burn for over 50,000 hours. The Department of Energy estimates LED lighting could reduce U.S. energy consumption for lighting by 29 percent by 2025. LEDs don't emit heat, so they're also more energy efficient. And they're much harder to break. Other scientists have said they expect LEDs to eventually replace standard incandescent bulbs as well as fluorescent and sodium vapor lights. If the new process can be developed into commercial production, light won't come just from newfangled bulbs. Quantum dot mixtures could be painted on just about anything and electrically excited to produce a rainbow of colors, including white. One big question remains: When a brilliant idea pops into your mind in the future, what will appear over your head? |
That's AWESOME!!!!! That guy must be on the moon about this!
Interesting.
That's pretty cool stuff!
wow i actually read a whole news article posted on a msg board.
very interesting stuff.
How much UV do they give off... obviously the white light contains all the colours from the visible spectrum, but how much other light is it also giving off?
Also, I'd want to know if there are more or less efficient than fluorescent bulbs...
Thats fun. Very cool discovery.
the future of lighting, looks really cool i guess will just have to wiat for the price to come down first
heh this reminds me of krypton! all the crystals (their walls and land) was always glowing. seems kinda gloomy :\ but very cool indeed.
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| Originally posted by NuERA wow i actually read a whole news article posted on a msg board. very interesting stuff. |
Imagine the possibilities in a club setting 
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| Originally posted by amb_ Imagine the possibilities in a club setting |
Woot! It would be nice to get rid of those flickering fluroescent lights.
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| Originally posted by DJ_Elyot How much UV do they give off... obviously the white light contains all the colours from the visible spectrum, but how much other light is it also giving off? Also, I'd want to know if there are more or less efficient than fluorescent bulbs... |
Interesting.... It's awesome how people stumble across things like this. all I have to say is they descovered it they will be making lots of money from it. good for them
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| Originally posted by DigiNut Hope the guy's got a patent out - he stands to make a lot of money from this thing. |
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| Originally posted by amb_ I'm sure he's protected his invention, he seems like a bright guy. |
^^^^
orange juice...now water??
cale u have to learn not to drink while reading TA. 
and yes very cool indeed.
So does that mean we'll need to plug our "light tables" into power points and stuff? Seems rather impractical. It might replace the lightbulb, but I can't see it coating household items like tables and chairs if it still needs to be plugged in.
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| Originally posted by marcusus So does that mean we'll need to plug our "light tables" into power points and stuff? Seems rather impractical. It might replace the lightbulb, but I can't see it coating household items like tables and chairs if it still needs to be plugged in. |
^^^
Good point.
Although it'd probably take a bit of getting used to.
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