Incandescent light bulb

An incandescent light bulb produces light by heating a wire filament until it glows.

Electricity passes through the thin tungsten wire inside a glass bulb filled with inert gas, generating both light and considerable heat.

Once the dominant form of electric lighting, incandescent bulbs have largely been replaced by more energy-efficient alternatives like LEDs: The old incandescent light bulbs in the basement kept burning out.