Artificial Lighting

“LIGHT”
A Chronicle to Artificial Lighting
Great significance has been placed on light throughout history.

The foot-candle, a common measure of illuminance, is the oldest physical unit
still in common usage. Acceptance of this unit has survived while use of other
common units has become obsolete.
Even in the Old Testament of the Bible, the Book of Genesis (1:3) begins with,
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
For centuries, wood, candle wax, whale oil, coal oil, coal gas, and kerosene
were used to illuminate building interiors.
Mid 1800’s (End of Industrial Revolution)

 much effort went into developing electricity and an electric lamp.
First Part of 20th Century
 Artificial lighting in buildings continued to come from natural lighting and flame sources.
December 21, 1879
 Thomas Alva Edison announced the successful development of an incandescent lamp with a
baked carbonized cotton thread filament. However, he was not the first to develop a working
incandescent lamp.
 February 5, 1879
 Sir Joseph Swan demonstrated use of a carbon-filament lamp.
 Swan’s lamp was similar to one demonstrated by German chemist Herman Sprengel in 1865.
• Edison, however, was the first to develop a commercially feasible electric light, a
low-cost lamp that could remain lit for a long period of time. When speaking
about his success, Edison said, “Electricity will make lighting so cheap that only
the rich will be able to afford candles.”
• At the same time, gas suppliers that provided natural gas for street and building
lighting dismissed the effects of the development of Edison’s electric light as a
temporary passing craze.
• Flame sources continued to light the world until the equipment to produce and
transmit electricity was commercially developed.
• 1882
 the Edison Electric Light Company successfully demonstrated the use of artificial lighting by
powering incandescent streetlights and lamps in approximately 30 buildings in part of London
beginning on January 12 and later by illuminating parts of New York City beginning on
September 4.
 Serving as a model for future utilities, the company later supplied power to Manhattan. The
company eventually became known as the Consolidated Edison Company, the utility company
that presently provides power to New York City.
• August 26,1895
 the Niagara Falls Power Company became the first commercial utility to produce and transmit
hydroelectric power. Eventually, communities switched from flame sources to electricity for
lighting buildings and streets, principally because of safety and cost-effectiveness.
• 1939
General Electric introduced fluorescent lighting, an electric light source
that is more efficient than the incandescent lamp. The first high pressure
discharge lamp developed was the mercury vapor lamp, known by the
bluish-greenish street lamps of the middle few decades of the 20th century.
Other forms of gaseous discharge lighting were also developed about that
time.
• After World War II,
much of the developed world became dependent on artificial lighting.
Professional Organizations related to Building
Lighting and Electrical Systems
 Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA)

 International Association of Lighting Designers (LALD)
 National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
 American Lighting Association (ALA)
Elements of Seeing
Optics
 It is that branch of physics that relates to the properties of light and the
function of vision.
 It involves a study of the human visual system and how it interacts with
light.
 The basic principles of vision and light as related to building lighting
systems will be introduced.
 These principles serve as an introduction to design of building lighting
systems.
Elements of Seeing
 Visual System
 is composed of the eye, optic nerve, and certain parts of the brain. The
EYE is the organ that allows a human to sense light and produce electrical
impulses. These electrical impulses are sent through the optic nerve to the
brain. The BRAIN is that part of the visual system where the impulses are
processed. Each element of the visual system is needed to transform light
stimuli into nerve excitations that allow a human to view an object.
Elements of Seeing
 The Eye
 functions much like a simple, very crude camera.
Rays of light pass through the transparent cornea of the eye and through an
opening called the pupil.
1. The IRIS surrounds the pupil and adjusts for the amount of light available. It
opens and closes to control the quantity of light the interior of the eye
receives, much like the aperture on a camera opens and closes to limit the
light to which the film is exposed. Behind the iris is the lens.
2. The LENS is a transparent ellipsoidal medium that changes thickness,
allowing it to bend and focus the rays of light entering the interior of the eye.
Elements of Seeing
The lens thickens to focus rays of light from objects nearby and narrows to focus light from distant
objects. The lens concentrates the rays of light on the retina, a membrane on the back of the eye.
3. The RETINA is composed of nerve cells with photoreceptors that are shaped like rods and cones.
 The rod-shaped photoreceptors sense extremely low levels of light and provide efficient
vision in dim light.
 These photoreceptors do not discern color well, so dimly lit objects are perceived as being
uncolored—that is, seen in shades of gray.
 The photoreceptors that are shaped like cones provide color vision and respond best to
bright light. Higher levels of light are required for the eye to discern color.
 As rays of light strike the photoreceptors of the retina, they produce electrical impulses
that travel from the nerve cells on the retina through the optic nerve to the brain.
 These impulses are processed in the brain and give the perception of seeing.
Elements of Seeing
 There are three different types of cone-shaped photoreceptors in

the retina.
 Each type responds to one of the primary colors of light: red, green,
and blue. In individuals with normal vision, the electrical impulses
from each cone blend together to create the sensation of other
colors.
 However, about 5% of the population, mostly males, has defective
color vision.
Elements of Seeing
Color blindness
is the inability to distinguish colors.
 The most common form of color blindness is found in those
individuals who have difficulty distinguishing red from green.
 Individuals who are completely red–green color-blind see yellows
and blues normally, but have trouble differentiating reds and greens.
 They tend to see reds and greens as yellow.
Individuals who are totally color-blind see only black, white, and
shades of gray.
LIGHT
What is Light?
• To the optical engineer, LIGHT is simply a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum,
sandwiched between ultraviolet and infrared radiation.
• The visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum extends from about 380 to about 780
nanometers (show figure below).
• What distinguishes this part of the electromagnetic spectrum from the rest is that radiation in
this region is absorbed by the photoreceptors of the human visual system and thereby initiates
the process of seeing.
• The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) defines LIGHT as “radiant
energy that is capable of exciting the retina and producing a visual sensation.”
• LIGHT, therefore, cannot be separately described in terms of radiant energy or of visual
sensation but is a combination of the two.
Light
 Electromagnetic Radiation
 LIGHT is that form of electromagnetic radiation that allows the eye to see.
In fundamental theory, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION is energy
radiated in the form of a wave caused by an electric field interacting with
a magnetic field.
 It is the result of the acceleration of charged particles. Contemporary
theory suggests that electromagnetic radiation also behaves as a group of
particles called photons. Nevertheless, light tends to travel in a
straightline path unless influenced by a gravitational, magnetic, or some
other force. Unimpeded, light travels at the speed of 186 000 miles per
second (300 000 000 meters per second) in air or in a vacuum.
Light
Categorization of Electromagnetic Radiation

1. Wavelength
 is measured as the distance from one peak of one wave to the next wave.
 It is expressed in meters or nanometers (1 nm = 0.000 000 001 meter or one
billionth of a meter). One inch contains about 25.4 million nanometers.
2. Frequency
 is the number of wave cycles per second. It is expressed in units of hertz (Hz).
TV and radio waves are several meters long with frequencies ranging from 10
kilohertz to 300 000 megahertz. In contrast, visible light waves are only about
0.000 000 5 m in length.
Light
Wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic radiation are dependent on the

source emitting the radiation.
Large antennas such as those found on the tops of buildings and mountains
must be used to generate radio and TV waves.
Gamma radiation, the shortest and most powerful form of electromagnetic
radiation, result from changes within the nucleus of the atom.

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What were some early sources of light used for illumination?

Who developed the first commercially successful incandescent light bulb?

“LIGHT”

A Chronicle to Artiﬁcial Lighting

Great signiﬁcance has been placed on light throughout history.

Mid 1800’s (End of Industrial Revolution)

 Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA)

 There are three different types of cone-shaped photoreceptors in

Categorization of Electromagnetic Radiation

Wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic radiation are dependent on the

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