Arc lamp
Description
A high-intensity light formed by gas that is ionized by a high voltage pulsed between two electrodes housed in a glass bulb. A Carbon arc lamp with two carbon electrodes in an air environment were the first type of electric lighting devices. They were patented by Frederick Holmes in 1846 and initially installed in South Foreland Lighthouse in Dover in 1858, after which they replaced gas lamps for the illumination of city streets. Carbon arc lighting is very bright, intense, expensive, and UV-rich with spectrum a is very close to sunlight. It was superseded by the more practical incandescent lamps in the early 20th century.
The term arc lamp is also used for gas discharge lamps such as:
- Xenon arc lamp: two metal electrodes and a Xenon gas filled environment. This produces very high intensity white light used for movie projectors and searchlights.
- Mercury vapor lamp: two electrodes with Mercury gas in a vacuum. This is also called a fluorescent lamp.
- Sodium vapor lamp: two electrodes with Sodium gas at reduced pressure.
- Krypton arc lamp: two electrodes with Krypton gas at reduced pressure that are used as aircraft approach lamps
Synonyms and Related Terms
arc light; arc lighting; electric lamp; voltaic light; Bogenlampe (Deut.); lampe à arc (Fr.)
Resources and Citations
- Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997
- The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998
- Bill Bryson, ‘At Home: A Short History of Private Life’ Doubleday Publishers, London 2010.
- Wikipedia: Arc lamp Accessed March 2025