"Phil Allison" wrote in message
...

"Karl Up Himself ****wit Piano"


CFLs have some glass (coated with some kind of fluorescent material),
plastic and metal bases, and electronics. They are considerably more
complicated to dispose of cleanly than a simple glass bulb with a bit
of metal in it.


** You left out the *BIG* one.

All CFLs ( in common with all fluoros) contain mercury - claimed to
be about 10 mg of the highly toxic stuff in each one.

What is the mercury used for?


** You stupid or something ??

What the hell do you think a fluoro light really is ?

Go look it up - fool.

You sure wasted a hell of a lot of spit saying "it's a mercury vapor
light".


** Proves what a know nothing IDIOT you are, yet again.

**** OFF !!

Asshole.

Does anybody know what the hell set this guy off? I asked a simple question,
not really prepared for an ad-hominem attack. I figured I wasn't the only
person on these NG that might benefit from what I thought was probably a
simple answer.

I did look it up, and after wading through article after article repeating
the exact same environmentalist hand-wringing about how toxic this naturally
occurring metal is, I finally found an explanation of its role in
fluorescent lamps:

Fluorescent lamps *are* mercury vapor lamps, although the vapor pressure in
fluorescents is different from the bright blue-white lamps traditionally
called "mercury vapor lamps". The electric arc in the tube excites the
electrons in the mercury vapor atoms so that when they drop back to their
base level, they emit photons, primarily in the ultraviolet energy range,
which strike the phosphor coating on the inside of the tube, exciting the
electrons in the phosphor atoms so that when they drop back to their base
level, they emit visible photons. Any number of gases could be used inside
the tube, but mercury has been used traditionally in fluorescent lamps. Some
newer lamps use less mercury, in favor of alternative elements. Of course
there are trade-offs, such as cost and performance.

My original question about mercury basically had to do with current
practices: Whether it was, in fact, the gas of choice for CFLs. I thought it
might be possible that it had some other use that I was not aware of. I
guess I crossed some invisible line by asking about it.