As you may already know, incandescent and fluorescent are two types of light bulbs commonly used for various lighting applications.
Incandescent light bulbs are older, but are still used in our houses. They come in the form of a glass sphere, with a very thin filament inside. It is the tungsten filament that we mostly use now, and it is surrounded by an inert gas. In these bulbs, light is produced by heating the metallic filament until it starts to emit light.
A fluorescent bulb is totally different. It is a glass tube coated with phosphorous, containing mercury vapour. When the gas inside is excited, these lamps produce light. Unlike incandescent lights, they come in different shapes and sizes.
There are many other differences between incandescent and fluorescent lights other than these. The former has a low efficiency, and short life. Fluorescent lamps have very high efficiency, longer life, and is also energy saving. They are said to last 10 to 20 times longer than an incandescent bulb.
However, many experts say that fluorescent lamps pose threat to health and environment. This is because of the mercury content in them. Also, fluorescent lamps are more expensive than the other type.
