| arc light | |
| —n | |
| Also called: arc lamp a light source in which an arc between two electrodes, usually carbon, produces intense white illumination | |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
| arc lamp
An electric light in which a current produces light when an arc traverses the gap between two incandescent electrodes in a container filled with a gas, such as xenon. The two electrodes are usually made of carbon and are eventually vaporized by the heat they generate. Arc lamps are used to produce intense light (as in spotlights) and to produce heat for welding. |
arc lamp
device for producing light by maintaining an electric arc across a gap between two conductors; light comes from the heated ends of the conductors (usually carbon rods) as well as from the arc itself. Arc lamps are used in applications requiring great brightness, as in searchlights, large film projectors, and floodlights. The term arc lamp is usually restricted to lamps with an air gap between consumable carbon electrodes, but fluorescent and other electric discharge lamps generate light from arcs in gas-filled tubes. Some ultraviolet lamps are of the arc type.
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