light_bulb_webquest_-_writing_frame.docx | |
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The best place to start on this enquiry is to find a few basic facts about Thomas Edison. Follow the link below to find the answers to the following questions.
When was Thomas Edison born and when did he die? What age did he live to? What nationality was Thomas Edison and where did he live? How was Thomas Edison educated? Where did he work? Click here to find out more about Thomas Edison Perhaps you could find some more interesting facts about Edison from the link below to make your fact file more interesting. Click here for more Thomas Edison facts |
Image: Tyne & Wear County Council Museums
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The next step is to do the same for Joseph Swan. Follow the link below to find the answers to the following questions.
When was Joseph Swan born and when did he die? What age did he live to? Was he older or younger than Edison? What nationality was Joseph Swan and where did he live? How was Joseph Swan educated? Where did he work? Click here to find out more about Joseph Swan Perhaps you could find some more interesting facts about Edison from the link below to make your fact file more interesting. Click here for more Joseph Swan facts |
Alessandro Volta is famous for the invention of the voltaic pile or battery. He was an Italian physicist who was born in 1745 and died in 1827. The unit of measurement, the volt, is named after him.
Some people think that you could argue that Alessandro Volta was in fact the inventor of the electric light. Follow the link below and scan the article to find some information about Volta that could be evidence to support this idea. Click here to search for the connection between Volta and the electric light |
Image: Britannica
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Image: National Portrait Gallery, Birmingham UK
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Humphry Davy was an English chemist who came from Cornwall. He was born in 1778 and died in 1829. Davy was also an inventor and in 1802 he invented the arc lamp.
He cam up with the invention not long after Alessandro Volta presented his discovery of a continuous source of electricity to the Royal Society in London. Humphry Davy was in the audience. Davy produced the world's first electric lamp by connecting voltaic piles to charcoal electrodes. Davy's 1802 invention was known as an electric arc lamp, named for the bright arc of light emitted between its two carbon rods. While Davy's arc lamp was more effective that Volta's electric lighting, it still wasn't a very practical source of lighting. This lamp burned out quickly and was much too bright for use in a home or workspace. Click here for more information on Humphry Davy's arc lamp |
Image: British Patent Office
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In 1850, English chemist Joseph Swan focused on trying to bring down the cost of the bulb design. After ten years working on the problem he had developed a light bulb that used carbonized paper filaments in place of ones made of platinum which were much cheaper.
Swan received a patent for this design in the United Kingdom in 1878, and in February 1879 he demonstrated a working lamp in a lecture in Newcastle, England. There was a problem with his design. Follow the link below to find out what it was. Click here to find out about Joseph Swan and his lamp design What is a patent? |
Thomas Edison heard all about Joseph Swan's design and its problems. He realised that the problem with Swan's design was the filament and it need to be different. Edison thought that a thin filament with high electrical resistance would make a lamp practical because it would only need a little electric current to make it glow. He demonstrated his light bulb in December 1879.
To find out more about Edison's light bulb follow the link below - can you find out how Edison when about finding the best materials to use in his lamp? Click here to find out more about Edison's light bulb |
Image: Menlo Park Museum
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Image: Tyne and Wear County Council Museums
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Swan heard about Edison's solution to improve his design. He changed his light bulbs to include Edison's improvements and set up his own electrical lighting company in England.
Edison heard about this and thought that Swan had stolen his idea. Edison sued for patent infringement, but Swan's patent for the lamp in 1879 meant that Swan won. The two inventors eventually joined forces and formed Edison-Swan United, which became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of light bulbs. |