MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 57,946
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
On the topic of the color of CFL and LED lights: CFLs use mercury gas that's ionized and emits ultra violet light. Then a phosphorous coating on the bulb converts the ultra violet into visible light. A "white LED" also produces ultra violet light and also uses a phosphorous coating to shift that to visible light.
So the composition of the phosphorous coating determine the color temperature of the light. You see this in regular long-tube florescent as a "cool white" or "warm white" type of bulb. The "cool white" phosphorous is cheaper to make and has a higher efficiency as far as the conversion process is concerned. A lot of LED flashlights use "cool white" (higher color temperatures) to get more light out of them.
There are CFLs now that have an incandescent coloring, once that match the sun, and ones that are the "cool white". LEDs are also being produced in different color temperatures. The ones I used match the sunlight color spectrum. It's weird to have all that diffuse lighting in the room and have it be the same color as daytime when the room is lit by diffuse sunlight, but it's dark out. Incandescents also set our perception of what a "light should look like". Who knows, for the next generation all light might be considered perfect when it has the same color balance as the sun, which looks decidedly blue next to an incandescent bulb. If anyone remembers Ecktachrome slide film, it was available in "daylight" and "inside" versions (if I remember that correctly...)
Moss, tnx for the feed back. If/when I drone on too much just send me a PM...
Pete
I have two degrees in electronics. Your posts are music to my brain.