Why do CFL's go bad?

[the_big_m_in_ok]

hey,
i have never had a GE cfl to go bad so far...
but the other i have noticed.. that the transistor goes or the inductor...
but alot of the sylvania bulbs .. filament or gas get weak
hope this helps

I thought of that later.  Electrical filaments are built into the ends of the bulbs and when one breaks, it stops working.
Creative Science has high voltage, high frequency schematic(s) that they claim will start a fluorescent bulb with just that kind of current after it's burned out.

--Lee

[Azorus]

I had a teacher explain this one time as to why they can go bad.  It basically boiled down to bad manufaturing.  He explained that one can last on a normal basis of about 5-10 years, but when the gas leaks out and oxygen cords the circuts is when they go bad.  Also he said to stay the hell away from any that change colors because he had one go super hot on him onetime and almost burned his shop down with it.

[mr_bojangles]

every burned out one ive seen appears to be that, burned out

i am not sure if the contacts fry up or if the "filament" actually does burn up, really interesting question though...

[MasterPlaster]

Like all physical products somethings got to give. It is most annoying when the product is guranteed for 10 years and it fails after a week.

[jadaro2600]

All of this is rather disturbing, the initial post was what got me to thinking about them - it literally fried itself on the inside.