These halogen bulbs are funny little creatures. They don't like people touching their body. They also despise dust particles, well actually, they just hate things touching their body. One single speck and holy cow! It blows up, literally!
See, halogen bulbs have a very sensitive glass bulb. Now, since it is named Halogen, it means that it uses halogen gases, like Iodine and Bromine.
This type of bulb gets very HOT! You can actually fry an egg from all that heat. Normally, the heat is evenly distributed over the glass envelope. If there is a single speck of dust or fingerprint, it will concentrate more heat over that region. This weakens the glass and can actually melt it. A bubble may form because of the gas pressure. Ultimately, the bulb fails, sometimes violently with an explosion.
Seriously, don't even try to touch a Halogen bulb's glass envelope. Just touch the contacts. If the glass is contaminated, clean it thoroughly with rubbing alcohol and dry it before use.
No comments:
Post a Comment