Bulb goes Boom!

CGeezer

CGeezer

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Name
John
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Yes
I had a couple of old type lightbulbs and had a play.

No#1
aeqx5c.jpg


No#2
34teaae.jpg
 
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cool, how did you do this? ive googled a few times but never found anything!

second one is the best, first seems lil OOF.....good effect thought :)
 
I took a light bulb and smashed the dome off wearing my glasses for H&S reasons of course :LOL: Then set my camera to high speed continuous and focused on the element, made sure the light was switched on but unplugged with the plug sitting in the socket of my extension lead. Then using my knee I pushed the plug in and held the shutter down :) I used a large black card for my background.

I have a better one that i'm uploading now :)

Right up your street Robbo (y) BTW I defo got the idea from these very forums.
 
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240 volts shooting through the exposed element when I press the plug in with my knee makes it smoke.
 
That's a very neat trick there John. Your last is nice and sharp yet I like the smoke best in #2. It would be possible to merge the best elements of both. (pardon pun ):bang:
 
I like the best of the bunch as it's more in focus than the other
 
1st one is oof but 2nd is a stunner!!
 
mark greenhill said:
That's a very neat trick there John. Your last is nice and sharp yet I like the smoke best in #2. It would be possible to merge the best elements of both. (pardon pun ):bang:
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Will have a go now at that :)

adey_g said:
I like the best of the bunch as it's more in focus than the other
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Thanks for the comment adey_g I think I may try that one in my camera club compo.

AndyWest said:
1st one is oof but 2nd is a stunner!!
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Thanks for that Andy (y)
 
There you go Mark, the two combined :)

rw8ehs.jpg
 
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wow great shot, health and safety would have a field day with the technique though. :eek: bet you don,t see this in amateur photography.
 
dinorock said:
wow great shot, health and safety would have a field day with the technique though. :eek: bet you don,t see this in amateur photography.
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I thought it was fairly safe and as the missus was out I did this in the front room small puff of smoke and then it is all over. :shrug: As for AP who knows who looks at these forums :LOL: By the way this is not my idea, I thought I got it from TP but have looked in vain. I in no way claim this as my original idea though.

purpleclouds said:
Nice work John, that last edit it superb :)
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Thanks Matey, mucho appreciated :)
 
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Robbo said:
what makes it smoke though?
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Proper circuit functioning depends upon good positive ground, the transmission of negative ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation is known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work; we know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of the electrical system, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing.

In order to make things work, smoke has to be kept within the wire at extremely high pressure. When, for example, the smoke escapes from an electrical component (i.e., say, a Lucas voltage regulator), it will be observed that the component stops working. This is because the component has developed a smoke leak and hence the smoke is no longer pressurised.

The function of the wire circuit is to carry the smoke from one device to another; when the wire circuit "springs a leak", and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works afterwards. Starter motors were frowned upon in British cars for some time, largely because they consume large quantities of smoke, requiring very large wires.

It has been noted that Lucas components are possibly more prone to electrical leakage than Bosch or generic Japanese electrics. Experts point out that this is because Lucas is British and all things British leak. British engines leak oil, shock absorbers, hydraulic forks and disk brake calipers leak fluid, British tyres leak air and the British defence establishment leaks secrets...so, naturally, British electronics leak smoke.
 
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The edit you made is superb, love the smoke trail.

Think I'll need to give this a go sometime.

How long did the element last before extinguishing being exposed?
 
The reason they burn like that and smoke is because when open to normal atmosphere the tungsten wire just burns out within seconds. The glass surrounding the filament is filled with an inert gas that stops the tungsten filament burning out.

Smash the glass and you have plenty of oxygen for the filament to use to burn itself out immediately.

Waffle over now lol.
 
No gas at all, lightbulbs contain a vacuum.
 
Do they, I stand corrected. Sorry, must have been thinking of something else.
 
Actually we were both correct lol. Just looked it up on Wiki. Can be either.

"The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric light that works by incandescence (a general term for heat-driven light emissions, which includes the simple case of black body radiation). An electric current passes through a thin filament, heating it until it produces light. The enclosing glass bulb contains either a vacuum or an inert gas to prevent oxidation of the hot filament. Incandescent bulbs are also sometimes called electric lamps, a term also applied to the original arc lamps."
 
mah1880 said:
:LOL: @ sheddy!

Great pics!
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Thanks they were fun to do too.

martyp said:
The edit you made is superb, love the smoke trail.

Think I'll need to give this a go sometime.

How long did the element last before extinguishing being exposed?
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The flame and the smoke only lasted a couple of seconds I had the camera on high speed auto and only got maybe four shots before it went all quiet. I used one bulb as a sort of test then another straight afterwards and only really got the one keeper :)
 
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