I can see the light

This past weekend was Presidents Day weekend and i went to a beachouse so i didnt do any homework. I came up with this idea for my blog because i turn on and off lights everyday and i understand now that it is physics. Lightbulbs are made out of glass on the outside and on the inside are wires and metal that are attached to the bottom and side of the bulb base. These two wires at the bottom and side carry a flow of electrons from a power source like a battery. In the middle of the bulb is a filament made out of tungsten which is coiled super tight and then coiled against for a long and small space for the electrons to go. While the electrons flow across the filament they bump into each other and create heat which is so intense that it burns a bright light. This is the light that we see when we turn on lights and also why lightbulbs are very hot to the touch after they have been on for a while. The majority of the heat stays inside the bulb because glass is very resistant to heat so it holds it within. I never knew that so much stuff in life could be related to physics.

In class on Friday we learned about voltage and a little about electrical sockets and how they carry voltage. Voltage is a ratio of potential energy to charge measured in volts. Potential energy is measured in joules and charge in coulombs. Although different objects may have relatively similar voltage, the way people feel the shock is dependent on how many coulombs of electrons are carrying the charge of the voltage. An example of this could be a Van de Graaff and power lines. We learned that power lines have a voltage of around 500,000 volts and a Van de Graaff has a voltage of around 400,000 volts. The feeling that we feel from the two are completely different because of the number of coulombs carrying the energy. In a Van de Graaff there are about a millionth of a coulomb while power lines have an infinite amount of coulombs. So in the Van de Graaff you only feel around half a joule of energy while you feel a whole lot more from power lines. The same goes for electric sockets in comparison to the Van de Graaff where there are not as many coulombs carrying the joules so you dont feel a killer shock.