Which Light Bulb Is Bright but Cool?

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective was to compare the efficiency of different types of light bulbs by testing the light and heat output of the bulb. I did this because the electricity companies are telling people not to use so much electricity and because the cost of electricity keeps escalating. Using more efficient bulbs would reduce the amount of electricity a person would use and reduce their bill. Methods/Materials The I tested two each of five different types of bulbs. I tested 40 watt clear incandescent, soft white incandescent, and halogen bulbs and 42 watt and 9 watt fluorescent bulbs. I did a light-emitting test and a heat-emitting test. Each test was performed 5 times and the results averaged. Results I found that fluorescent bulbs are the most efficient and incandescent bulbs are the least efficient. 42-watt fluorescent bulbs were the most efficient and gave off 7.22 LUX/cal. The clear incandescent bulbs were the least efficient and gave off 0.85 LUX/cal. Conclusions/Discussion I conclude that using fluorescent bulbs is the best choice. They are the most efficient by far and use the least electricity for the amount of light produced.

Competition history

• CSEF 2005 Materials Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1137

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Materials Science and Engineering projects
• CSEF Materials Science and Engineering projects
• Every CSEF 2005 project