JCPL Teens

Holiday lights can use up a lot of energy.  LED lights are the new option for many holiday light displays.  LEDs use 90% less energy than incandescent lights.  How do they work? "LEDs are diodes, electronic devices that allow current to pass freely in one direction but not the other" (World of Invention, 2006).  Sir Richard Friend made the first LED light at Cambridge University in 1990.  LED lights are made from slices of crystals so thin that electricity can traverse their basic physical structure. 

Want to know more about how LED lights work?

Check out the Science in Context database through the library.