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Article: Battle of the bulbs: will LEDs or incandescents win the fight of the lights?(Physical)
- Article from:
- Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- March 18, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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How many engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? Thousands of them, each one smart, dedicated, putting in long hours over many years.
That's a lot of work hours, but the engineers aren't changing one bulb. They're changing one type of bulb, the old familiar incandescent bulb, replacing it with the light of the future--the light-emitting diode, or LED.
LEDs are already all over the place. You've probably seen them without knowing it. Most new traffic lights use LEDs. Your bicycle lamp may be an LED. The dome light in your family car may be one too.
In order for lighting engineers to "change the lightbulb" everywhere, however, they have to ...