High-pressure sodium lamps can enhance your illumination design theme and provide the proper lighting for your cherished environment. These light fixtures belong to a group of illumination devices called HID or high intensity discharge. High-pressure sodium lamps are typically used in industrial applications and are perfect for color rendering. These bulbs produce a tranquil pinkish, orange color when turned on. High-pressure sodium lamps work their magic by utilizing sodium in an excited state to produce a beautiful light source.

There is a wonderful selection of lamps and bulbs. The online venue gives customers a plethora of choices from some of the best manufacturers in the lighting industry. There are lighting professionals that are equipped with the knowledge and tools to answer any question you may have about lighting design and technique. These experts can also assist you in choosing the most radiant bulb for your illumination design theme. There are two kinds of sodium vapor lamps: low and high-pressure lamps.

Low-pressure sodium (LPS) lamps, better known as SOX (sodium oxide) fixtures, produce a quality source of monochromatic illumination. These light fixtures do not provide the superior color rendering compared to high-pressure lamps, but are very efficient under photopic lighting environments. People commonly use these light bulbs to enhance outdoor illumination. Streetlights and different types of security lighting fixtures typically use LPS bulbs where color rendering is not as important.

High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps are smaller in size compared to LPS bulbs and usually contain some other kind of element (Ex: mercury) to enhance color rendering. Looking at the color spectrum of a high-pressure bulb, one will find that these lamps are perfect for color rendering. The sodium D-line (yellow and red colors on one side of the spectrum) is the primary light source produced by the HPS bulb. These colors are pressure broadened by high levels of sodium weight found within the lamp, thus an object's color can be seen in vivid detail under these lights.

HPS bulbs are great for photopic lighting conditions and also have been used outdoors to enhance security and street illumination. Many commercial sites also benefit from these wonderful illumination devices because the potent light produced by them gives employees ample luminosity, thus making for a safer, more efficient working environment. The arc tube inside the high-pressure bulb is usually made out of see through aluminum oxide (alumina). This compensates for the large amounts of chemical activity found within the high-pressure sodium arc.

One drawback to using LPS and HPS bulbs can be found in the category of public lighting. On overcast evenings, cities that have ample public lighting gather a good chunk of this illumination from light being reflected off the clouds. Many urban centers use these kinds of bulbs to illuminate their surroundings, but on cloudy nights this can actually turn the sky into an orange color. If there are no clouds in the sky, then the light may shine over large distances, causing big urban areas to have an orange glow far away from the city itself. It can be kind of cool to look at this orange color, but aviation is sometimes effected, especially when the weather is bad.