[FRIAM] Naïve physics question

[glen ☣]

I'm not a physicist ... or very smart.  But it seems like what you're asking is if/whether there are any other paths, other than heat and light for energy to escape.  If not, then you're right.  If so, then not.  But I suspect if there are any other escape paths, they will be larger in the incandescent bulb than the fluorescent bulb.  And if that's the case, then the CFB would rise _more_, because the incandescent's hidden paths consume more energy than the CFB's hidden paths.

An example hidden path might be the decay of the filament?  Absorption/reflection/dissipation rates of the opaque material?  Perhaps some sort of "thermal mass" of the bulb or its coating(s)?  Does the gas inside CFBs decay in any way?  Etc.  Regardless, I suspect it would be tiny in either case.

On 02/14/2017 07:01 AM, Gary Schiltz wrote:
> Since there are some non-naïve, i.e. professional physicists, as well as
> just gererally smart people in FRIAM, I pose the following fun question.
> Given: two transparent, sealed containers filled with air - one contains an
> incandescent light bulb A that consumes 100 watts of energy; the other
> container contains a fluorescent light bulb B that also *consumes* 100
> watts of energy. Since B is of a more efficient design, it will produce
> more light than A. Assuming the same color temperature light is produced by
> A and B, and ignoring any feedback effects of rising temperatures inside
> the respective containers, will the temperatures inside the containers
> reach the same temperature? Naïve physicist G (me) thinks that since more
> light is escaping from the container containing B, that its temperature
> will rise less. G also thinks that if the containers are opaque, that the
> temperatures will rise by the same amount. But G is besieged with doubts.
> Please help G.

-- 
☣ glen