107 Years Old and Still Going Strong!

107 years old and still going strong! No, I am not talking about my grandmother; she died just before completing a century. In fact, I am talking about a light bulb that has been burning continuously for more than 107 years in a Fire Station in Livermore, California, USA. This 5-watts bulb was installed in 1901 and was never turned off. The bulb has appeared in several editions of the Guinness Book of Records book. The bulb is so popular that it has its own website.

Light Bulb on since 1901

Isn't it surprising that when most electric bulbs don't last a few weeks, a bulb has been burning on for over 107 years? Some people claim that the bulb did not burn out because it was was never switched off. You might have noticed that most bulbs burn out when these are turned on. I feel that this is not the primary reason for the long life of this bulb. Two main reasons are - first, this is a low wattage lamp and second, they created almost perfect vacuum during he manufacturing process before sealing the filament in the bulb. Due to these two factors, the filament never gets too hot to evaporate and does not oxidise due to lack of air in the bulb. Well, whatever is the reason of the extraordinary long life of this bulb, it is amazing! You might be wondering, why they can't make long lasting bulbs these days. Well, if bulb manufacturers start making really long lasting bulbs, they will go out of business very soon!

If you look around in your house, I am sure you would find a few old things. Usually some memories are attached to these old objects. For instance, I have a scissors that I bought in 1970s to trim my moustaches after facial hair appeared for the first time on my face. And I have a jacket that I bought in 1987 during my honeymoon. I also have a few 1, 2, 3 and 5 paisa coins that have gone out of circulation. I remember that in 1960s, I used to get 3 paise as pocket money and it was used to buy peanuts or channas from a hawker who used to visit our neighbourhood in the evening. We had a lot of old interesting things in our house in Moti Bagh, New Delhi; however, hose had to discard because we moved to Canada in 1997 and could not bring them here. One thing that I always remember is a Vacuum Tube Radio set built around the Second World War time. This radio had excellent sound quality and could work on 70 - 400 volts AC or DC.

Please feel free to share your views about any old interesting thing that have or had.