Electron/Vacuum Tubes

Our generation nowadays are very improved in many ways especially in the field of
technologies and modern inventions. As we all know, the world we are living today can be the
witness of the changes that we have from generations to generations. Now we live with
technologies with high-tech devices and materials, we may think how it really works and what
are the science or physics behind of these inventions. We may think also what specific materials
are used in the creation of such invention. Now, we are dealing with devices, gadgets and other
things that we can see in our house like television, radio, lights etc. and it makes us wonder how
come it was made. It is very interesting for us to learn what is the secret behind of these things.
Well, it has to do with electron or vacuum tubes, and I think it is familiar to some of us.

Vacuum tube is a sealed glass or metal-ceramic enclosure that is used in electronic

circuits to control the passage of electrons between the metal electrodes that are enclosed inside
the tube. It was invented by John Ambrose Fleming in 1895 and is also known as an electron
tube or valve. A glass tube that has had its gas removed to create a vacuum is a vacuum tube.
The switch or amplifier in early computers was a vacuum tube, which had electrodes for
controlling electron flow. Using a vacuum, the air inside the tubes is removed. Vacuum tubes are
applied in a wide variety of applications, such as the rectification of weak currents, the creation
of oscillating radio-frequency power for radio and radar, and many more.

Vacuum tubes have a high-quality audio, it is highly linear, especially for small-signal
types and without negative feedback, capable of withstanding high voltage spikes and overloads,
and it also have the features that are very temperature independent make biasing much simpler.
There are many types of tubes that have also different uses and functions, such as combination
tubes, ionization tubes, display tubes, and microwave tubes. While tube parameters variables
include the amplification factor, plate-to-cathode voltage, plate current, input signal voltage,
delta, mutual conductance, grid-to-cathode voltage, cathode current, and the dynamic plate
resistance. Triode, tetrode, beam power tubes and pentode are also important parts in the field of
electron/vacuum tubes. Vacuum tubes were widely used in electronics, and until plasma, LCD,
and other technologies took over for televisions and video monitors, cathode-ray tubes were still
in use for those applications. Computers might move away from mechanical switching and speed
up the turning on and off of the flow of electrons by using vacuum tubes in place of mechanical
relays.

One of the most famous and common examples of the contribution or use of a vacuum
tube is its use in the creation of Edison’s incandescent lamp. Vacuum tubes are also utilized in
radios, televisions, radar devices, and telephone networks. Vacuum tubes are mainly utilized in
high-end audio equipment today, and some audiophiles prefer them to digital systems. Another
example is the X-ray tube which is one of the first types of vacuum tube. In addition to its
obvious use in medical imaging, X-ray tubes are also employed in modern security scanners and
we have all seen them at airports, also in food inspection systems, thickness gauges, and other
devices. These tubes are also important in music industry like for example the combination tubes
specifically the triode tubes like 12AX7 which is especially common as a preamplifier in electric
guitar amplifier circuits. Also, we have, compactrons (a combination tube) that are mainly used
in television circuits. Ultra-linear combination tubes are also used commonly on audio amplifier.
Tubes such as ionization tubes specifically cold-cathode tubes are commonly used on neon light
and TV backlights while the heated version, hot-cathode tubes are commonly used in fluorescent
lamps. Spark gaps an example of ionization tube are essential to functioning a number of
electronic devices such as ignition, surge protection and old-world radio devices. Discharge
tubes such as neon lights which is popular as a source of colorful illumination, the color of light
being dependent on the type of gas inside the tube, are commonly used as a signage of a certain
store or any establishments that we have nowadays. Actually, there are more things that are made
up of the electron tubes and these things are very significant to the modern technologies that we
have in our generation.

Electron/Vacuum tubes are very important in modern day, especially in our generation
because of its useful characteristics which made the devices and other tools easier to use and it
makes the work to finish well and faster. The impact of this kind of tubes to our modern society
and in the field of technology will remain, since our generation will deal more on gadgets and
high-tech inventions, and we all know that electron tubes are one of the most important thing or
shall we say, the foundation of such an invention in the future.