Strobe light
A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of
light.
Strobe lights have many uses, including scientific and industrial applications, but are particularly popular in discotheques where they are used to give an illusion of slow motion . Other well-known applications are in alarm systems,
theatrical lighting , and as high-visibility
navigation lights, as well as still widely being used in law enforcement and other emergency vehicles, though they are slowly being replaced by
LED technology in this application, as they themselves largely replaced
halogen lighting in this application.
Encyclopedia
A
strobe light or
stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a
strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of
light.
Strobe lights have many uses, including scientific and industrial applications, but are particularly popular in discotheques where they are used to give an illusion of slow motion . Other well-known applications are in alarm systems,
theatrical lighting , and as high-visibility
navigation lights, as well as still widely being used in law enforcement and other emergency vehicles, though they are slowly being replaced by
LED technology in this application, as they themselves largely replaced
halogen lighting in this application. Strobe lighting has also been used to see the movements of the vocal cords in slow motion during speech, a procedure known as video-stroboscopy. Special calibrated strobe lights, capable of flashing up to hundreds of times per second, are used in industry to stop the motion of rotating and other repetitively-operating machinery and to measure the rotation speeds or cycle times.
A typical commercial strobe light has a flash energy in the region of 10 to 150 joules, and discharge times as short as a few milliseconds, often resulting in a flash power of several kilowatts. Larger strobe lights can be used in “continuous” mode, producing extremely intense illumination.
The light source is commonly a
xenon flash lamp, which has a complex spectrum and a
colour temperature of approximately 5,600
kelvins. In order to obtain coloured light, coloured gels must be used.
The origin of strobe lighting dates to 1931, when
Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton employed a flashing lamp to make an improved stroboscope for the study of moving objects, eventually resulting in dramatic
photographs of objects such as bullets in flight.
Strobe lights and epilepsy
Strobe lighting can trigger seizures in
photosensitive epilepsy, thus most strobe lights on sale to the public are factory-limited to about 10-12 flashes per second in their internal oscillators, although externally triggered strobe lights will often flash as frequently as possible. At a
frequency of 10 Hz, 65% of affected people are still at risk. The British Health and Safety Executive recommend that a net flash rate for a bank of strobe lights does not exceed 5 flashes per second, at which only 5% of photosensitive epileptics are at risk. It also recommends that no strobing effect continue for more than 30 seconds due to the potential for discomfort and disorientation.
Related Terms
- Jerkiness — discontinuity in motion pictures, also called strobing
- Photographic flash — often referred to as a strobe light
- Strobing — a dance form
