Electronic starter for fluorescent lights - strike a light!

6-22 — elektor june 1982 electronic starter for fluorescent light strike a light! Standard fluorescent light tubes, or to give them their scientific name "low pressure gas discharge tubes", are not as straightforward as they seem. The normal opaque-looking tubes are in fact made of clear glass with an internal coating of fluorescent powder, and filled with mecury vapour (and a little argon). The vapour is under an ex- tremely low pressure (about 0.00001 absolute atmospheric ata.). By ionising the vapour under the influence of a powerful electrical field, a gas discharge (discharge of electrons) occurs. When an electric discharge passes through the mercury vapour a small quantity of visible light and a large amount of invisible ultra- violet light is generated. As already mentioned, the internal surface of the glass tube is coated in a thin layer of fluorescent powder. This converts the ultra-violet (short wave) radiation into visible (long wave) light with a continuous spectrum....