Jason Bradwell's 365/366 Photo a Day Blog

Some people smoke cigarettes. Some people smoke pipes. Some people smoke cigars. Some people smoke weed. Filthy stuff, I say. So I smoke filaments. Lightbulb filaments.

An electrical current travels through the filament and because of the electrical resistance of the filament makes it white-hot and generates light and heat. It is normally in a vacuum or a noble gas or inert gas inside a glass enclosure to stop oxidation. Small amounts of a halogen can be added to facilitate transport of evaporated tungsten atoms back to the filament, resulting in significantly prolonged lifetime when used at higher temperatures, which is exploited in halogen lamps. Electrical filaments are used in hot cathodes of various types of vacuum tubes and electron guns as sources of electrons.

Remove the vacuum from the bulb by drilling a hole, and turn that sucker on. Exposed to air, the filament will quickly burn out. The bulb will light for a few seconds as the filament fries and gives of some smoky goodness.