The Way it Works

LED bulbs work by using two prongs (an anode and a cathode) to form a junction where protons stream. Charge-carrying electrons are produced, and when they cascade into the junction between the prongs, they meet a hole. This effect causes the electron to enter a lower energy level and that causes a release of energy. Light is created, and the kind and amount of energy produced in the junction determine its color.



The History

Unlike compact fluorescent or incandescent bulbs, LEDs are a much newer form of lighting. The technology itself wasn’t truly discovered until 1955, when Rubin Braunstein of the Corporation of America first discussed the potential of using semiconductor alloys to create an infrared emission. Experimenters from Texas Instruments patented an expanded form of the technology in 1961, and a year later General Electric, as it had done with the fluorescent bulb, created a practical version that could be conceivably made available to the public.