[Amps] General question on filament life: comments

[Steve Thompson]

Harold Mandel wrote:

> Lastly, bench-rig a dimmer and a 100 watt light bulb
> and hook up your scope on a.c. input and check out the
> waveform.
> 
> No wonder the bulbs burn out!
What might be the burn out mechanism? The thermal time constant of the 
bulb filament is much longer than the 50/60 cycle applied voltage, so I 
can't see that it's thermal.

Steve