why does a light bulb explode?

Question

my boyfriend turned on the light this morning and he said and flickered like it was going to blow then it went fine then a couple of minutes later the whole light bulb exploded and shattered all over him. is this normal? why did this happen?. there is no cover over the light it is just dangling from the roof.

Answer 1

Hi. The vacuum inside might have pulled in some moisture which expanded from the heat. Just a guess.

Answer 2

The light bulb actually "imploded." The pressure inside the bulb is much less than the pressure around the bulb.

There are several reasons that could explain what happened. If the light was flickering, a bad electrical connection may have cause it to simply overheat and place undue stress on the glass. Since there was no cover on the dangling bulb, it may have been struck at one time or another causing small cracks to the base of the bulb.
You can relax, though, because this is not a very common occurrence.

Answer 3

To answer this question, we first need to consider what a light bulb actually does to produce light. When one screws in a light bulb to the proper socket, one completes a miniature electrical circuit inside the bulb. This circuit consists of two conductive wires supporting a filament. Most people don't give much thought as to how and why a filament changes electric current (electrons) to light (photons). Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, realized that electrons (inherently obnoxious and uncooperative particles) would have to be, figuratively, whipped into useful, hard working photons. Notice the shape of a filament, otherwise known as the molecular whip.

As to the problem of exploding light bulbs, the answer is less hard science and much easier to understand. The whip degrades over time from the millions of lashes it performs a second on the backs of dirty electron slave laborers. This results in work being discontinued for short periods of time when the electrons rebel against the weakened bourgeois filament. Occasionally, when tensions run high enough, the light bulb is unable to contain the revolutionary fervor, and explodes.

When your light bulbs explode, think of the electron's plight and not of the broken glass that litters your floor.

Answer 4

It is probably because the light bulb overheated. It happens sometimes, don't worry about it. It would be wise though to put a cover on the light next time though.

Answer 5

It happens when the bulb burns out.