For a story I’m writing… can LEDs emit full spectrum (pure white) light?
There are white LEDs, but they’re expensive. They even make fancy flashlights with arrays of the things now.
The answer is NO. LEDs emmit on a single frequency. What has been done is to have blue leds couted so that some of the blue is turned to yellow and they appear white but they emit only two colors and one of them is not emmitted by the LED,
Hmm, well I’m writing a story in the future (unspecified when), and I like the look of full-spectrum lighting, so what would provide that?
I have a slight hijack…
I have a piece of equipment with a relatively bright, annoying LED. If I just break the LED, will the equipment still function?
MC$E
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It’s conceivable that in the future, it’d be fairly easy to create an array of closely spaced (by this I mean on the same chip) LEDs of different colors. (This is possible now, but the materials degrade differently, so you lose your white light pretty quick).
OLED lighting (what sailor describes) seems like it’d be okay – you’re still getting a full spectrum, even if it’s not produced by the diode itself.
MC$E - if you remove the LED, it’ll probably work. (I’m not sure if you knew this, but simply breaking the LED’s cover will not necessarily break the LED, and is not a very good idea anyway, as you could cause a short somehow). If you know how to do it, it’s better to simply replace the LED - if you can find an older LED (less efficient) or possibly even one of a different color to use.
More on white LED’s
The LED museum has more information on LED’s than you’ll likely ever need.
Just paint over it with fingernail polish of a complementary color. That’ll dim it down.
Well, if you are making up your own story set in the future I can’t see why they couldn’t have white leds or any other invention you may have in mind. It’s your story and you are in charge. If your question is whether it’s plausible, the answer is yes. No problem there.
Okay. I just wanted to keep a realistic feel, and I heard somewhere the lighting of the future will be LED panels.
I’d go for organic light emitting polymers, personally; sounds better and is also a contender for future light sources.