Re: Incandescent Filiment Support Prongs?

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:29:21 -0700, insula@xxxxxxxxx (C. Nick Kruzer)
wrote:

Are the filiment support prongs in an ordinary household incandescent
light bulb made of Nickel metal or some type of Nickel alloy?

They look shiny like stainless steel.

I've been using them as points in negative ion generator experiments.
I'm wondering about the release of the small amounts, if any, of
volatile metals into the surrounding breathable atmosphere.

I've also played with the shiny prongs using them as small electrodes
for water electrolysis with a 9v battery.

Now that I've replaced all my household screw-in incandescent lights
with compact fluorescent units I have been messing around with the
rejected incandescent bulbs.

Using a jeweler's saw I open the bulbs near the most distal portion of
the electrical contact end. The internal components are then carefully
removed. If you do this you should wear gloves and safety
glasses/goggles. Glass chips will fly.
(Reminder: Don't break open fluorescent bulbs, they contain mercury.)


Incandescent bulbs may be hazardous as well: Animal studies of
tungsten shrapnel show that it is a very powerful carcinogen. I don't
know how tungsten dust (which I assume must be inside the envelope
after the filament burns out) would behave in the lungs, but I suspect
the answer would be "not good".

This may not be an environmental hazard like mercury in landfills, but
on a personal experimenter basis it may be much worse. (My
understanding is that mercury is a problem mostly in organically
active forms like methyl mercury, not as a raw element.)

Best regards,


Bob Masta

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