How LED Light Bulbs Work

Although fluorescent lighting or the more popular Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs became the main choice in the recent years to replace incandescent bulbs, LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs are now fast gaining attention in the field of environmentally safe and energy efficient lighting.
But how exactly does an LED light bulb work and is it gaining such hype in the market today? Let us start with a brief history.
The foundation of the LED can be traced as far back as 1907 when a British experimenter named H. J. Round of the Marconi Labs discovered the phenomenon known as electroluminescence. Further research and development was done by a number of people until finally in the year 1962, Nick Holonyak, Jr. developed the first practical visible-spectrum LED. He was then regarded as the father of the LED. The first LEDs can only emit red light. However further research and development allowed us to make LED lights emit almost all the light spectrum. It has then gone from being a simple indicator light to a multipurpose light and electronic tool. We can now see it in a number of different colors used for a number of different purposes from televisions, flashlights, light bulbs and many other electronic devices.
Now that we know its history, let us look at how this light works. A diode is the simplest type of semiconductor device and generally speaking, a semiconductor is a type of material that has the ability to conduct electrical client. It's just that different semiconductors have different abilities in performing such task.
Normally, a diode only allows electric current to move in one direction but in the case of the LED, it flows in two directions. It allows electric current to go through a negatively charged anode and move to a positively charged cathode. This process allows the electrons to recombine through the electron holes within the device which then produces an energy known as photon. Photons give out light through the effect known as electroluminescence.
How does the LED light produce different colors? It is all dependent on the energy produced by the photons which is determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. LED light bulbs have very long life span due to the fact that it uses no filament unlike the incandescent bulbs and is proven safe as it does not contain harmful materials like mercury found in fluorescent light.
This technology is then used in the creation of the LED light bulb. The LED light bulb is a solid state type of lamp which uses LED as its light source. We know for a fact that a single light bulb is not enough to illuminate an area but combining a number of them proves very effective.
This light produces less heat and uses less energy than incandescent bulbs and even CFLs. These are just some of the reasons why this is fast becoming the choice when looking for a more energy efficient lighting. Not to mention its long service life along with its health and environmental safety features.