Helium glow lamp revisited

[hotbulb]

I've put up a picture of the Heliglow lamp on my Webshots page.
 http://community.webshots.com/user/hotbulb

Look in the 'Lamps' album. So far its the only picture there  
Oh, and feel free to browse any of the other albums if they interest you!!

[Max]

Hi,

If the color of the glow discharge from your picture is the same as you actually observe, themn I would say that it is an argon glow lamp...
Helium give off a salmon-pink color.

Max

[hotbulb]

I'm wondering if there is some helium in the gas mix, the real thing is not quite as blue as the picture.
And why would it be called a Heliglow lamp if it only contained argon. Very strange indeed :confused

[Max]

Hi,

The best way to be sure would be to do a spectroscopic measurement of the emitted light. From the spectrum lines we would know which elements are present.

I may be wrong but to my point of view the Heli- prefix does not necessarily mean that the lamp is filled with helium. The fact that the electrodes are shaped to the first letter of the lamp name may also mean that "Heli" refers to something else instead.


Max


[This message has been edited by Max (edited October 22, 2002).]

[James]

Also over time, many lamp manufacturers have chosen company names based on the Greek word "Helios" for sun.  In the UK alone I can think of three old lamp manufacturers with such names, these being Heliolight, Helios and Heliotron.  It seems logical that somewhere a glow lamp company may choose the name Helioglow.

I agree with Max that from the colour of the discharge, this would appear to be an argon lamp.  It is possible that it could contain a percentage of helium gas but I am not sure why anyone would want to do that, I can only think of applications for an essentially pure helium lamp which would have a pink/buff coloured discharge.

Still, its a very nice design of lamp you have there with a most unusual electrode arrangement!

Best regards,

James.

[Max]

quote:Originally posted by James:
It is possible that it could contain a percentage of helium gas but I am not sure why anyone would want to do that

Since the first metastable energy level of helium is higher than the ionization energy of Argon, it would thus form a Penning mixture (and decrease the starting voltage). But in this case helium should be the major component.
However, the use of helium require special glass materials as it tends to be cleaned up and to diffuse through conventionnal glass (soda lime ...)

Max



[This message has been edited by Max (edited October 24, 2002).]