Our expertĭistinguished Professor Geoff Chase from the University of Canterbury answered this question. When heated, these special gases glow and create light. Because it is so very thin, it heats up really fast, so when we flick the switch the light comes on! More modern light bulbs replace the filament with a gas. The metal used to make the filament glows when it becomes hot, and thus we have light. The electricity being run through it causes it to heat up (this is another reason we coat electric cables in rubber). A filament is a very, very thin wire, and if you look closely at a light bulb like this you can see these wires. The second common thing is that electricity can be used to heat things up – think of how warm your computer gets when you use it a lot and you hear the fan whirring to cool it off, or the charger for your parent’s laptop or phone might get warm when it is plugged in.

First, they require electricity, which is the first step. Ok, there are lots of types of light bulbs! However, they all have two basic things in common.

How does the light bulb work