Incandescent lamp

Incandescence is the emission of light (visible electromagnetic radiation) from a hot body due to its temperature.The term derives from the verb incandesce, to glow white.
In practice, most bodies start to glow visibly in the dark around 400°C (about 670K). Their incandescence is not strictly zero below that temperature, but it is too weak in the visible spectrum to be visible.
The incandescence of a theoretically perfectly black object is known as black body radiation, which is described by relatively simple mathematical equations. For a black body, the distribution of energy emissions across the electromagnetic spectrum is described by Planck's law. The total power emitted by radiation from a black body is given by the Stefan–Boltzmann law. Wien's displacement law predicts the wavelength of peak emission.
Incandescence occurs in incandescent light bulbs, because the filament resists the flow of electrons. This resistance heats the filament to a temperature where part of the radiation falls in the visible spectrum. The majority of radiation, however, is emitted in the invisible infrared part of the spectrum, which is why incandescent light bulbs are inefficient.
Fluorescent lamps do not function by means of incandescence, rather by a combination of thermionic emission and atomic excitation due to collision with high energy electrons. In an incandescent lamp, only the electrons at the top of the band can participate. While higher temperatures can increase efficiency, there are currently no materials able to withstand such temperatures which would be appropriate for use in fluorescent lamps.
Incandecent light bulb:-
The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric light that works by incandescence (a general term for heat-driven light emissions which includes the simple case of black body radiation). An electric current passes through a thin filament, heating it until it produces light. The enclosing glass bulb prevents the oxygen in air from reaching the hot filament, which otherwise would be destroyed rapidly by oxidation. Incandescent bulbs are also sometimes called electric lamps, a term also applied to the original arc lamps.
Incandescent bulbs are made in a wide range of sizes and voltages, from 1.5 volts to about 300 volts. They require no external regulating equipment and have a low manufacturing cost, and work well on either alternating current or direct current. As a result the incandescent lamp is widely used in household and commercial lighting, for portable lighting, such as table lamps, some car headlamps and electric flashlights, and for decorative and advertising lighting.
Some applications of the incandescent bulb make use of the heat generated, such as incubators, brooding boxes for poultry, heat lights for reptile tanks, infrared heating for industrial heating and drying processes, and the Easy-Bake Oven toy. In cold weather the heat shed by incandescent lamps contributes to building heating, but in hot climates lamp losses increase the energy used by air conditioning systems.
Incandescent light bulbs are gradually being replaced in many applications by other types of electric light such as (compact) fluorescent lamps, high-intensity discharge lamps, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and other devices. These newer technologies give more visible light for the same amount of electrical energy input, and often generate much less heat. Some jurisdictions, such as the European Union are in the process of phasing-out the use of incandescent light bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient lighting.
History of the light blub:-
In addressing the question "Who invented the incandescent lamp?" historians Robert Friedel and Paul Israel [1] list 22 inventors of incandescent lamps prior to Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Edison. They conclude that Edison's version was able to outstrip the others because of a combination of three factors: an effective incandescent material, a higher vacuum than others were able to achieve and a high resistance lamp that made power distribution from a centralized source economically viable.
Another historian, Thomas Hughes, has attributed Edison's success to the fact that he invented an entire, integrated system of electric lighting. "The lamp was a small component in his system of electric lighting, and no more critical to its effective functioning than the Edison Jumbo generator, the Edison main and feeder, and the parallel-distribution system. Other inventors with generators and incandescent lamps, and with comparable ingenuity and excellence, have long been forgotten because their creators did not preside over their introduction in a system of lighting.
Construction:-

Incandescent light bulbs consist of a glass enclosure (the envelope, or bulb) with a filament of tungsten wire inside the bulb, through which an electric current is passed. Contact wires and a base with two (or more) conductors provide electrical connections to the filament. Incandescent light bulbs usually contain a stem or glass mount anchored to the bulb's base which allows the electrical contacts to run through the envelope without gas/air leaks. Small wires embedded in the stem in turn support the filament and/or its lead wires. The bulb is filled with an inert gas such as argon to reduce evaporation of the filament.
An electrical current heats the filament to typically 2000 K to 3300 K (about 3100-5400°F), well below tungsten's melting point of 3695 K (6192°F). Filament temperatures depend on the filament type, shape, size, and amount of current drawn. The heated filament emits light that approximates a continuous spectrum. The useful part of the emitted energy is visible light, but most energy is given off as heat in the near-infrared wavelengths.
Three-way light bulbs have two filaments and three conducting contacts in their bases. The filaments share a common ground, and can be lit separately or together. Common wattages include 30-70-100, 50-100-150, and 100-200-300, with the first two numbers referring to the individual filaments, and the third giving the combined wattage.
While most light bulbs have clear or frosted glass, other kinds are also produced, including the various colors used for Christmas tree lights and other decorative lighting. Neodymium-containing glass is sometimes used to provide a more natural-appearing light.
Filament:-

The first successful light bulb filaments were made of carbon (from carbonized paper or bamboo), later replaced with tungsten. To improve the efficiency of the lamp, the filament usually consists of coils of fine wire, also known as a 'coiled coil.' For a 60-watt 120-volt lamp, the uncoiled length of the tungsten filament is usually 22.8 inches or 580 mm [24], and the filament diameter is 0.0018 inches (0.045 mm). The advantage of the coiled coil is that evaporation of the tungsten filament is at the rate of a tungsten cylinder having a diameter equal to that of the coiled coil. Due to the coils creating gaps, such a filament has a lower surface area than the perceived surface area of the filament, and so evaporation is reduced. If the filament is then run hotter to bring back evaporation to the same rate, the resulting filament is a more efficient light source.
There are several different shapes of filament used in lamps, with differing characteristics. Manufacturers designate the types with codes such as C-6, CC-6, C-2V, CC-2V, C-8, CC-88, C-2F, CC-2F, C-Bar, C-Bar-6, C-8I, C-2R, CC-2R, and Axial.