Street Lights; tricky question

Is a "Sodium Vapor" light the same as a "High Pressure Sodium" light? :-)

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B
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I remember an experiment with, what was called, sodium vapor lamps on a street west of Chicago about

40 years ago. There were very orange .... like a pumpkin. The high pressure sodium lamps of today do have some other colors present to make them less objectionable, i.e.whiter (but not much). I know this probably doesn't answer your question, but one could draw some parallels and hypotheses.
Reply to
Art Todesco

High-Pressure Sodium Vapour lamps have a mostly a pale red orange color.

Even more efficient for streetlighting is the Low Pressure Sodium Vapour lamp. It produces a bright yellow light.

I was in Chicago 20-30 years ago when they used to put the Low Pressure Sodium Vapour lights at certain intersections. These were really cool!

The main and side streets had the orangy HP Sodium Vapour lamps, and the alleys, which were illuminated by an order from the late first Mayor Daley, had the sickly blue Mercury Vapour lamps. Anyone know if they still do this? I think the rumour was for Chicago to put the old Mercury Vapour lamps in the alleys as a cost saving measure until the bulbs were used up.

The lighting effect when viewed from a high building like the Sears Tower or the Hancock building was spectacular. An endless grid of light squares stretched out in the distance and you could clearly trace the alleys vs. the main streets.

Lower Wacker Drive had some famously spooky green lighting. I'm not sure what type was used for this, but it was a weird color.

Here is a good link on the characteristics of the low pressure sodium vapour lamp:

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Beachcomber

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Beachcomber

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