Black Hole Bulbs

Greg Pomerantz recently purchased a light bulb called a "black body bulb." When he told me this, I misheard him and thought he said he had purchased a "black hole bulb."

A small electrically-powered black hole that could be installed into a lamp is not only more technically challenging than building a light bulb. It is also, when you think about it, exactly what a light bulb isn’t.

One Reply to “Black Hole Bulbs”

  1. Actually, the closest approximation you can get to an ideal black body is to make a small hole in the side of a furnace.  A black body absorbs any radiation that hits it, and radiates according to its temperature.  A hole does this very well.

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