🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C1E7t9.G82@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib) writes:
|>
|>I'm not an expert on flourescant lights, (or much else really) :-) but they
|>run via some really high voltage gizmo which makes the gas in the tube 
|>flouresce constantly....
|
|Hmmm
|
|I think this is backwards. The filament of an incandescent lamp 
|doesn't have enough time to cool down enough between cycles, so
|it should glow steadily. 

Well, it seems to glow pretty steadily, except that it does flicker
enough to show 3600 rpm on my Royal Tach.

|A fluorescent lamp, however, relies on
|the flow of electrons through a mercury vapor through the tube,
|and this can respond faster to the cycles of AC. 

Yes, a florescent light has noticable pulses.  Hold up your hand
against a florescent light, looking at it through your fingers.  Wave
your hand frantically.  Now, apologise to the person who thought you
were being over friendly.  You may have noticed, though, before you
embarrassed yourself, that you see a bunch of finger images.  That's
the light pulses.

|Whether they flash 60x per second or 120x per second I don't know.

You can see 60 cycles/second as a noticeable flicker.  120 is high enough
that your persistance of vision makes it look steady.

		Dave Svoboda, Palatine, IL