Science Demonstrations
Fluorescent lamps can be illuminated by means other than a proper electrical connection. These other methods, however, result in very dim or very short-lived illumination, and so are seen mostly in science demonstrations. Static electricity or a Van de Graaff generator will cause a lamp to flash momentarily as it discharges a high voltage capacitance. A Tesla coil will pass high frequency current through the tube, and since it has a high voltage as well, the gases within the tube will ionize and emit light. Capacitive coupling with high-voltage power lines can light a lamp continuously at low intensity, depending on the intensity of the electrostatic field.
Also, placing a fluorescent lamp half way up a two-way radio antenna while transmitting will illuminate the lamp due to the RF energy.
Read more about this topic: Fluorescent Lamp
Famous quotes containing the word science:
“What is done for science must also be done for art: accepting undesirable side effects for the sake of the main goal, and moreover diminishing their importance by making this main goal more magnificent. For one should reform forward, not backward: social illnesses, revolutions, are evolutions inhibited by a conserving stupidity.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)