Plasma Globes

'Blue Planet Electra' plasma ball novelty lamp, Lumisource (http://www.lumisource.com)
Plasma ball

Found this thing at Radio Shack today (Dec. 21 2001) for less than $30.00.
It consists of a hollow, handblown glass ball that has a light dusting of green & blue glowing phosphors on its inner surface. All the air is sucked out and a little bit of argon and krypton gas is put in. It sits on a base holding a small high voltage inverter; this ionizes the gas mixture inside and makes these plasma streamers swirl around inside. The phosphor intensifies the glow somewhat, so this lamp can be enjoyed day or night.

The ball is handmade and looks like the earth. The phosphors are applied inside so that most of the blue ends up in the "water" areas and the green on the "land" areas. The dusting of phosphors is very light, so the blue glass ball is still transparent and the plasma streamers inside aren't hidden.

Placing your hand on the ball intensifies the streamers and causes a surface glow where your hand rests; this behavior is similar to how ordinary plasma globes act under similar conditions.

A version of this device is also available using a purplish glass CUBE, and uses additional phosphors to complement the colors.. I have not yet seen one in action, but I'll see if I can get the guy at the store to set a demo unit out.


Who needs a demo when you can have the real thing? The cube uses 3 different phosphors and is much more colorful. The arc appears to have the same basic color as the earth shaped lamp; all of the extra coloration comes from a mixture of several different phosphors (blue, green, and red) and from the tinted glass of the lamp itself.











WHITE 5500-6500K InGaN+phosphor 
ULTRAVIOLET 370-390nm GaN 
BLUE 430nm GaN+SiC
BLUE 450 and 473nm InGaN
BLUE Silicon Carbide
TURQUOISE 495-505nm InGaN
GREEN 525nm InGaN 
YELLOW-GREEN 555-575mn GaAsP & related
YELLOW 585-595nm
AMBER 595-605nm
ORANGE 605-620nm
ORANGISH-RED 620-635nm
RED 640-700nm
INFRARED 700-1300nm
True RGB Full Color LED
Spider (Pirrahna) LEDs
SMD LEDs
True violet (400-418nm) LEDs
Agilent Barracuda & Prometheus LEDs
Oddball & Miscellaneous LEDs
Programmable RGB LED modules / fixtures
Where to buy these LEDs 
Links to other LED-related websites
The World's First Virtual LED Museum
The Punishment Zone - Where Flashlights Go to Die
Legal horse puckey, etc.
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