Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!tomb
From: tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: How can I turn on this bulb with TTL?
Message-ID: <5170053@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: 31 Jul 89 17:37:49 GMT
References: <4363@merlin.usc.edu>
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 24

dk@thumper.bellcore.com (Dan Kahn) writes:
>
> ...
>
>need to get close to the bulb's rated current.  Not only will the bulb
>light up, it'll be a lot happier not to have been put thru the shock
                          ^^^^^^^
Actually, I don't think anyone has yet proven that light bulbs
experience happiness :-) :-)

>of the inrush surge that it experiences when placed across a stiff
>source at its rated voltage.
>
> ...
>
>Dan Kahn      Bell Communications Research      Morristown, NJ
>----------

But seriously, thanks for the explanation -- it's a better way to
communicate the same thought I had when I read the posting on
the ohmmeter changing the resistance of the bulb significantly
while the transistor (capable, presumably, of passing a lot more
current than the ohmmeter sources) wouldn't, in the poster's opinion,
be able to turn on the bulb because of it's cold resistance!