How Did The Light Bulb Affect Society

The light bulb that is common in today’s society was invented by none other than Thomas Edison in 1879, however, the first attempts in accomplishing so were made by Sir Humphry Davy in 1802. In 1878, Edison conducted countless hours of research into developing an incandescent lamp and he filed his first patent for “Improvement in Electrical Lights” on October 14, 1878. On November 4, 1879, he filed a patent once again utilizing a “Carbon filament or strip coiled and connected… to platina contact wires.” Edison is said to have made 1,000 failed attempts at actually inventing a practical light bulb. Ultimately, Edison and his peers found that a thin filament paired with a high electrical resistance would prove to be far more efficient in emitting light. Edison’s primary goal was to create a high resistance system that would use less electricity. This one invention greatly impacted all of America as it was a major …show more content…
With this new invention, the night life was created. The light bulb significantly impacted the flexibility of working schedules. With the introduction of the light bulb, longer working hours were made possible because of the ability to emit light at night. This ultimately led to increasing nighttime work production because more and more businesses started increasing their work hours. With this increase in work production, supply increased which cause goods to become far cheaper. Along with longer working hours, the light bulb helped improve workplace safety. Increased lighting in the workplace allowed workers to see potential hazards before potentially interacting with them. With this invention, people were able to earn more money as they could now work at night, as well. Schools and colleges were able to operate all day and night along with hospitals. Surgeons are now able to operate ‘round the clock’ which tremendously helped society in cases of