Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: Hari Krishna on 19/03/2016 17:49:21

Title: will tungsten filament react with inert gas ?
Post by: Hari Krishna on 19/03/2016 17:49:21

will the tungsten react with inert gas in light bulb (incandescent)  in the presence of ionising radiation ?

Title: Re: will tungsten filament react with inert gas ?
Post by: Bored chemist on 19/03/2016 17:56:41

Yes and no. It will donate an electron back to the ionised gas.
No actual compound will be produced.

Title: Re: will tungsten filament react with inert gas ?
Post by: evan_au on 19/03/2016 22:14:49

Even without ionizing radiation, or reaction with the inert gas, hotspots in the tungsten filament will cause the tungsten to evaporate (making the hotspot higher resistance and even hotter, causing more evaporation...) until the filament fails.

This causes visible darkening of the glass.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb#Reducing_filament_evaporation