Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Bulb Burnout
Hi Matt:
Why do light bulbs go poof when you turn them on, never while they're turned on and burning and having been on for hours? Maybe some expire in use in an abandoned garage, but I've never seen a bulb give up the ghost unless it happens just as I am turning the switch on. Strange.
-- PM, La Jolla
As your light bulb filament glows away in its glassy prison, minuscule bit of metal fly off it and deposit themselves on the inside of the bulb. The filament gets thinner and weaker as it burns. Finally one day you flip the switch, the sudden surge of current is too much for it to bear, and its little brains explode. Listen closely next time. Maybe you'll hear a tiny scream. Very rarely you might get a bulb that is not completely sealed, and it will burn out the first time it's turned on because oxygen has gotten inside it, causing the filament to burn too hot to survive. In either event, you're still stuck trying to decide which fixture to steal the replacement from.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Bulb Burnout
Bulb Burnout
Hi Matt:
Why do light bulbs go poof when you turn them on, never while they're turned on and burning and having been on for hours? Maybe some expire in use in an abandoned garage, but I've never seen a bulb give up the ghost unless it happens just as I am turning the switch on. Strange.
-- PM, La Jolla
As your light bulb filament glows away in its glassy prison, minuscule bit of metal fly off it and deposit themselves on the inside of the bulb. The filament gets thinner and weaker as it burns. Finally one day you flip the switch, the sudden surge of current is too much for it to bear, and its little brains explode. Listen closely next time. Maybe you'll hear a tiny scream. Very rarely you might get a bulb that is not completely sealed, and it will burn out the first time it's turned on because oxygen has gotten inside it, causing the filament to burn too hot to survive. In either event, you're still stuck trying to decide which fixture to steal the replacement from.
Comments