Re: [ATM] ATM: What do they offer:

[Mark Holm <mdholm@telerama.com>]

> That might explain why incandescent filaments typically fail the
> instant you flick the switch.

Probably mostly due to thermal expansion at heat up, though that isn't
the only force going on, it is probably the largest.

> Is the increased resistance due to the fact that filaments are
> typically coils, and hence inductors, or is it a thermal property?

Thermal.  It wouldn't work for DC otherwise ;-)

I have noticed that I can usually hear a tiny ping when a reasonable
size light bulb is turned on.  I think it comes from the filament
jerking about under the start up stresses.

-- 
Mark Holm
mdholm@telerama.com

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