1.Tube: Filled with Mercury Vapours and inner surface coated with phosphorous.

2.Electrodes: For ionising the gas

3.Choke/Ballast: Inductor to generate High voltage and to maintain arc.
4.Starter:

a. RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) suppression Capacitor.

RFI suppression capacitor has the following functions in the tube light circuit:
i) Absorbs the electric noise created by discharge around the electrodes in order to suppress the
radio frequency interference with other electric devices.
ii) Attenuates the initial striking voltage from the ballast and make it wide too in order to
ensure more reliable starting operation.
iii) By avoiding arching between glow tube contacts, it ensures a long contact life.
b. The small glass tube is filled with neon or argon and contains a bimetallic plate.
This bi-metallic plate is the heart of the starter. Among the two contact strips
shown in the image, left
one is attached with the bi-metallic strip as shown in
the above image.
1.) AC electric current passes through the ballast. The ballast will step up 120 AC
volts (in the US) to 216v, next the power passed through a 'choke' or 'reactor', this
limits current and prevents the lamp from creating a type of short circuit which
would destroy the lamp. All arc discharge lamps need a choke to limit current.
2.) The lamp's glass tube is called a discharge tube and it works by having
electrons pass from one electrode to the other. This forms what is called an "arc".
Getting this started is a real challenge.
To get the lamp started you need a spike of high voltage to get the arc started.
The colder the lamp is, the higher voltage you need to get a start. The voltage
'forces' current through the argon gas. Gas has a resistance, the colder the gas, the
higher the resistance, therefore you need a higher voltage with colder
temperatures. Since creating a high voltage is a challenge and dangerous,
engineers figured out ways to 'preheat' the lamp, that way less of a high voltage is

required. There are different ways to start a lamp including: preheat, instant start,
rapid start, quick start, semi-resonant start and programmed start.
2a.Use a Starter (startswitch) - This method is the first and arguably the most
reliable type of way to start a lamp according to some. Many facilities still have
older fixtures with startingswitch preheat fluorescents.
1.) In the early systems the starter contained a small neon or argon lamp. When
the starter was cool at first, current ran through the starterswitch through the
neon lamp. The 1 W lamp would warm a bimetallic strip in the starter, while
in the main arc tube the current passed through the tungsten electrodes
which would make them heat up and ionize some of the gas. This 'preheated'
the lamp.
2.) 2.) Current passes through the tungsten electrodes on each end of the lamp.
The electrodes are like a filament on an incandescent lamp, when current
passes through they heat up and give off free electrons. This process of
letting off free electrons is called thermionic emission. The free electrons
ionize the argon gas in the tube. The first gas to be ionized is right around the
filament, you can see it clearly in the photo above. An ionized gas is called a
plasma
3.) When the starter switch (with the little neon or argon lamp inside) gets warm
enough, the bimetallic strip flips the other way, completes the circuit, bypassing
the small lamp. The lamp goes out and the entire circuit shorts. During the short
the voltage falls to zero. The bimetallic strip cools and pops back open, opening
the circuit. In the ballast the transformer had a magnetic field, when the circuit is
cut the magnetic field collapses and forms an 'inductive kick' from the ballast.
Suddenly this kick of high voltage is sent through the lamp and this starts the
arc. If it didn't work, if the lamp is still too cold, then the starter switch will light
again and repeat
the process.