Exploding Lightbulb
I found this picture on someone’s Twitter feed and thought it was one of the most unique pictures I had seen. Of course, it may not be real… Photoshop being what it is these days. Yet, the thought of catching something in a moment of time – a fascinating thought of catching the view of something just at the right moment and capturing that view… Wow…
A short while back my kids got me tickets to a stage show of experiments that is normally recorded for a cable show called “Mythbusters”… On stage they reproduced the premise of the show of determining what myths are potentially true, and which Hollywood stunts are actually workable and repeatable, and even working to debunk fables.
On some of their episodes they use a high speed camera to catch moments of their experiments in almost nano-second snapshots. Fascinating to watch, but a lot of what you see them do is the crash and burn result of an experiment gone wrong.
This really got me to thinking about our incandescent light bulb and why it seems they quit so quickly. A little research shows that there is a bulb that has lasted for 112 years. It has been proven by Guinness World Records, and has even been moved from one location to another during it’s life time. Find more information at: http://www.centennialbulb.org/facts.htm
Though we measure bulbs in wattage (the amount of electricity it takes for them to light up) and we measure them in terms of lumen’s (their brightness of light and how far they will brighten up a space). The really weird measurement is “how long” they will last. You look on the package and they brag about the number of hours they will burn, and you think, “There’s no way I will ever lose this bulb because I don’t burn it near the number of hours they talk about…”. Only, the proviso to any longevity is often related to the circumstances of the bulb.
- The operating temperature
- The amount of voltage used (the less voltage, then the longer the burn)
- Power surges
- Turning it on and off
There are probably other considerations, but these are enough to realize we often are the culprit to a light quitting quicker than it should. True, there are defects, hidden and obvious, that could cause a light to quit faster than advertised, but those are often expected. I mean, have you ever watched how they create the bulb? Watch this video of an insight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BylLOWRojyY
So… Consider all of this info as a query about ourselves… How long will your Light last?
We have used the term of “burning a candle at both ends” to indicate we are working too hard at too many things and will burn out way before our intended time. I know people like this and wonder when I will be standing by a headstone memorializing them.
Listen to an interview of Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, you may immediately think of her as a feminist and will applaud her for this distinction, while others will tune her out because she is a female in an normally male dominated career path. Regardless of how you feel, perhaps you would be impressed with some of her approaches to job and career, I know I was…
- She does not hesitate to leave the office at 5:30pm so that she can have dinner with the family – and by doing so she is showing others that it’s okay to have a family life and still be in an important position.
- If she is needed for more daily discussions then she makes herself available later that evening when all family functions are starting to end.
Balance. I suspect it will always come back to this thought. How balanced are you?
And to this thought I ask: What do you place as most important in your life? What are you doing in practical ways to extend the length of your light?
