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Tech In Plain Sight: Incandescent Bulbs
(hackaday.com)
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this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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One tidbit the article neglects to mention: the rapid heating from a cold start often caused a critical failure in an old filament, which is why bulbs would most often burn out right when you turned them on. You'd get that quick flash, maybe a pop, and the light would be dead. First you'd flip the switch on and off a few times, then go fumble around for the bulbs (hopefully not in the dark), then fumble around replacing the bulb. And hopefully you left the switch off, or remembered to look away while screwing it in, else it'd blind you when the new one came on.
I think we have been able to manufacture sturdier incandescent bulbs for a long time. The "rough service" bulbs made for appliances do pretty well, for example.
I'm not sure why the technology didn't become common. I would guess that cheap and frequently replaced bulbs making more profit probably has something to do with it.
This is largely a myth. Higher wattage bulbs burn out faster, but they also operate more efficiently. Bulbs are fairly cheap, but electricity is expensive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb
For more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb7Bs98KmnY
I guess you're implying that rough service bulbs use more power at any given light output? Because I know from experience that they are much more sturdy than typical household bulbs. That's not a myth.
Rough service bulbs live longer in environments with high amounts of physical stress, temperature variation, and vibration. They don’t live longer in general.
The lifespan of an incandescent is dictated by the evaporation rate of tungsten and directly related to the wattage.