When very drunk, I’ve seen the flicker of normally-functioning fluorescent lights and was theorizing whether my “nervous system was desynchronizing” or if it was nystagmus-related, or if there was even a difference between those two.
The ends of fluorescent tubes with traditional EM ballasts flicker at 50/60 Hz because the filaments take turns being the cathode and anode based on the current polarity of AC, which is perceptible in peripheral vision. And some long tubes have waves on their arcs, causing travelling ripples of bright spots. But without a more advanced ballast, there’s just the phosphor smoothing the 100/120 Hz ripple, which is not very effective (and usually, yellow phosphor lasts longer than blue, resulting in color banding in video) but that’s not normally perceptible.
I never thought alcohol would make the brain work faster though, thanks for sharing!
When very drunk, I’ve seen the flicker of normally-functioning fluorescent lights and was theorizing whether my “nervous system was desynchronizing” or if it was nystagmus-related, or if there was even a difference between those two.
The ends of fluorescent tubes with traditional EM ballasts flicker at 50/60 Hz because the filaments take turns being the cathode and anode based on the current polarity of AC, which is perceptible in peripheral vision. And some long tubes have waves on their arcs, causing travelling ripples of bright spots. But without a more advanced ballast, there’s just the phosphor smoothing the 100/120 Hz ripple, which is not very effective (and usually, yellow phosphor lasts longer than blue, resulting in color banding in video) but that’s not normally perceptible.
I never thought alcohol would make the brain work faster though, thanks for sharing!