Why doesn't a flourescent light at very high temp. melt the glass or burn you? What is that temp & why?

Question

Physics teacher asked us says it has to do with what we've been studying which is Specific Heat Capacity..

Answer 1

Floursescent lamps have spectral temperatures anywhere from 2700K to 6500K, depending on the type of bulb. But because the gas in the tube is so rarified, the total heat content and generation in the bulb during operation is miniscule. The glass tube easily conducts the heat flow from the interior to the cool exterior without experiencing high temperature spots of any significant thickness. It's the same reason why it's impossible to try melting a bar of steel in contact with water with a small butane burner.

Answer 2

Temperature and heat are not the same thing. Heat is a form of energy. Temperature is the amount of that energy per unit mass. Something with very low mass, like the very low pressure gas in a fluorescent light, can have very little heat energy, but when you divide that total heat energy by the very small mass, you get a big number for temperature.

Answer 3

Floureescent lamps do not run at a high temp.
It is just UV radiation turned into visible light using phospher coating on the inside of the tube.

Answer 4

Fluorescent lamps produce much more light than heat. That's why they are so energy-efficient when light (rather than heat) is what you want. This is also true for light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. They operate on physical principles completely different from incandescent lamps.