Re: OT: They don't make 'em like they used to

On May 8, 7:57 pm, John_H <john4...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Diesel Damo wrote:
> ><http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=90303>
>
> >108-year-old light bulb - yes, it still works.
>
> So long as you don't mind the faint red glow of a carbon filament
> light bulb.  Most people simply chucked them away and replaced them
> with tungsten long before they got broken.
>
> They had a stack of 'em in the physics lab when I was at high school
> (or was it uni) somewhat less than 108 years ago.  The reason they had
> them was to demonstrate their negative temperature coefficient of
> resistance (NTC) -- ie the resistance decreases as they warm up, which
> is exactly the opposite of a tungsten filament.
>
> It is of course the reason why the old carbon filaments didn't often
> burn out whereas tungsten filaments do....  Perhaps you've never
> wondered why a tungsten filament light bulb only ever blows when you
> switch it on (in the absence of vibration or bumping)!  You should
> also note that this one's hanging on a cord (which protects it from
> vibration and mechanical shock).

However they did mention it had been hit by various objects
over the years which I found surprising.