Does flicking a light switch on and off several times do any kind of damage?

Answer 1

Yes, it will wear the skin down on your finger tip !!

Answer 2

If you are switching on and off an incandescent bulb, it can cause the bulb's failure by repeated thermal shocks to the filament. The filament gets very hot, right? So by allowing it to cool off (the lamp goes out and the bulb stops glowing) and then lighting it again, the filament is made to repeatedly heat and cool.

Metal fatigue can result. That, combined with migration of the tungsten atoms as the current flows will eventually result in a weak spot in the filament; and when it is thin enogh, it eventually cracks at the in-rush of current due to thermal shock and the bulb will no longer work.

If you shake it while the power is on (say, it's a table lamp) and you are VERY lucky, the ends of the filament might overlap for an instant and hit and weld together because the current will instantly heat them. The bulb will work again. But that is not a permanent fix! The filament is still old and weak and will eventualy break again.

Take my suggestion and replace it with a power-saving compact fluorescent lamp, or an LED (light-emitting diode) lamp. They are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, but last much much longer, use much less power and will save you money in the long run.

If everybody across the country replaced their incadescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps, we would save so much electricity, it would be equivalent to building dozens of new electrical generating plants, without having to build them! Your electric bill would go down!

Also, the reduced demand for oil and gas to generate electricity would make the US less dependent on sources of foreign oil, and the price of gasoline would also go down. Neat, isn't it?

Answer 3

as it transpires, it has a variety of damaging effects.

the most obvious is the weakening of the lightbulbs filament, it can survive being heated to white glow and cool down again only so many times.

then there is abrasive damage to the switches mechanism.

it wears off your skin, although that grows back.

it wears off your knuckle joints, and those dont grow back.

it produces a small amount of ozone evertime the switch closes contact.

it can cause an epileptic seizure in so predisposed persons.

it induces a small amount of oxydation on the lampsockets contacts.

hmmm i think thats all for now... i will call you when i think of more... until then... happy switching.

Answer 4

When ever a motor driven device short cycles or goes on off on again, something will be damaged. Overheating to the windings, loose fan blades and pulleys, and yes lighting damage from current surge and voltage spikes.

Answer 5

not if it is a not too old switch

in older switches this could lead to a malfunction in the switch mechanism, causing it to block.

in even older switches you may be unlucky enough to cause some short circuit.

my guess is that the reason why parents have always told this to kids, is that it worked well to stop them from playing with switches ;-)

Answer 6

It does slowly wear on the parts and wires. Like anything man made, its not perfect, but just accepted as the way to do it for now. Its like drivig your car, it wewars it out and some damage will happen to it over time.

Answer 7

It might make the bulb blow or damage your light switch.

Answer 8

This will shorten the life of the bulb due to repeated heating and cooling of the filament.

Answer 9

A humorous one and that i furnish you with a huge call. right here's a humorous(!!) ghosts chat. 2 ghosts met and the two chat approximately how they died. 1st ghost : How u died? 2d ghost : I died of chilly. 1st ghost : How does it sense once you're demise in chilly? 2d ghost : easily, i exchange into by danger locked in the refrigerator. initially, i exchange into shivering, then my entire physique began to freeze, later I felt the entire international exchange into darkish and that i died suffocating. 1st ghost : Wow what a terrible thank you to die.... 2d ghost : How approximately you? How u die? 1st ghost : I died from coronary heart attack. 2d ghost : I see, why did u have a coronary heart attack? 1st ghost : easily, i found out that my spouse is having an affair with yet another guy. someday, as quickly as I got here back from paintings, observed a pair of guy footwear outdoors my homestead. Then, i found out that the guy exchange into in my homestead with my spouse. as quickly as I rushed into the mattress room, my spouse exchange into by myself. i'd desire to discover the place that bastard is hiding. So I searched the bathroom, I ran downstairs, regarded in the storeroom, however the bastard exchange into not there. So, I ran upstairs and searched the cloth wardrobe, yet i found not something. because of the fact of all that working,I have been given a coronary heart attack and died. 2d ghost : Why you on no account seek for the bastard in the refrigerator? The bastard exchange into hiding there. We the two would be alive now!!

Answer 10

It does if you're having a bath at the same time!