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How does a bug zapper work?

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The first bug zapper was created and patented in 1934, by William F. Folmer and Harrison L. Chapin. While many have tinkered with the design of the original, the basic structure has stayed pat.

There are four basic parts to the common bug zapper.

The first is the housing. The housing is the casing that holds the rest of the parts. It is usually made of plastic or electrically-grounded metal and is usually shapped like a lantern, a cylinder or a rectangular cube. It also usually has a grid design around the outside to keep children or animals from being able to touch the electrified insides.

The next part is the light bulb, or sometimes light bulbs. The florescent light is what attracts insects. It usually uses mercury, neon or a black light. Many insects are more attracted to these ultraviolet lights because the patterns in flowers that attract insects are revealed in ultraviolet light.

The third part is the inside wire grid or screens. These are made of wire mesh and surround the light bulb. It is electrified to kill the insects.

That last part is the transformer. This is what electrifies the wire mesh. It changes the 120-volt electrical line to 2,000 volts or sometimes more. This increased voltage is applied to the mesh grids around the light bulb.

When all of these pieces are put together, an insect sees the light and flies towards it. It penetrates the very small space (usually a few millimeters) left between the wire-mesh. This completes the electric circuit, and a high-voltage electric current quickly flows through the insect which vaporizes it.

When this happens, you will often hear a loud "zap" sound. Bug zappers can lure and kill more than 10,000 insects in a single evening. By design, bug zappers do not discriminate between types of insects, but because of their luring strategy, they tend kill those insects that are most attracted to ultraviolet light, which unfortunately, doesn’t include mosquitoes.

Next Page: Are there Bug Zappers that target Mosquitoes?

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