In an incandescent electric bulb, the filament of the bulb is made up

In an incandescent electric bulb, the filament of the bulb is made up of which metal ?

Aluminium
Copper
Tungsten
Silver
This question was previously asked in
UPSC NDA-2 – 2020
The filament in an incandescent electric bulb is made up of tungsten. Tungsten is used because it has the highest melting point (3422 °C) among all pure metals and remains solid at the very high temperatures required to produce light efficiently (around 2000-2500 °C). It also has high tensile strength and low vapor pressure at high temperatures.
The principle behind an incandescent bulb is resistive heating: an electric current passes through the filament, heating it to incandescence (glowing white hot) and emitting light. The bulb is usually filled with an inert gas (like argon or nitrogen) to reduce the evaporation of the tungsten filament, prolonging its life.
Aluminium, Copper, and Silver are good conductors but have significantly lower melting points than tungsten and would melt or vaporize rapidly at the temperatures required for incandescence.
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