The energy used to make non visible light is a waste of energy since it does not help do the principle job of an electric light.
High pressure mercury vapour lamp working principle.
A sodium vapor lamp is a gas discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm.
The lps lamp is also called a sox lamp so for sodium advantages.
The light would intensify as the arc grew stronger in the tube.
In either case the outer bulb provides thermal insulation protection from the ultraviolet radiation the.
Can be retrofitted into older mercury vapor fixtures better bulb life than lps lamps.
Lamps of today are high pressure lamps with a fused quartz inner discharge tube.
High pressure sodium lamp hps lamp.
The outer bulb may be clear or coated with a phosphor.
The high pressure helps increase efficiency and this was developed in 1936 35 years after the low pressure lamps came out.
After that the lamp would heat fast and mercury became a vapor.
Lamps are divided into families based on the pressure of gas and whether or not the cathode is heated.
Low pressure and high pressure low pressure sodium lamps are highly efficient electrical light sources but their yellow light restricts applications to outdoor lighting such as street lamps where they are widely used.
The heat knocks electrons out of the electrodes by thermionic emission which helps maintain the arc in many types the electrodes consist of electrical filaments made of.
Two varieties of such lamps exist.
Developed in the 1960s they are similar to mercury vapor lamps but contain additional metal halide compounds in the quartz arc tube.