hello all,
i'm just dropping in here in the hope one of you might be able to explain something for me.
last night here in west ryde (sydney) we had a blackout. well, at first i thought it was a blackout...then after my eyes adjusted i noticed that, although most of my appliances had gone off, the lights in the house were still emitting a very faint red light. i thought it might have been residual heat but, sure enough, when i turned on lights in other rooms they all had the same faint output.
so, would this be because there was still a small voltage powering the lights? what sort of grid malfunction might have caused this?
while i was wondering such things, i reached over to switch off my bedside lamp. this lamp has one of those fluoroscent power saving bulbs which can go in a regular light socket. now, when i placed my hand on the lamp to switch it off, the bulb became much brighter. when i actually touched the glass tubing of the fluoroscent bulb the light in one of the 3 loops of glass tubing actually came up to a bright white output. as long as i was touching it the light was bright.
now i'm truly at a loss for explanations. i wasn't charged up with static electricity at all. i was lying on a mattress so i can't see how my body could have been completing any circuit. can someone help explain why my touch was brightening the fluorescent lamp? and why only
1 of the three loops of the glass tube?many thanks in advance,
aanon