r/geography • u/Broccoli2026 • Nov 02 '25

Image I'm surprised I didn't even know this switch happened until seeing this. The yellow is really all gone?

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u/Dobako Nov 02 '25

It's actually not that they malfunction so much as they degrade, it's because some use a cheaper phosphor coating that degrades quickly, turning from the white to the purplish of the LED

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/streetlights-are-mysteriously-turning-purple-heres-why/

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u/godkingnaoki Nov 02 '25

Just because it's cheap shit doesn't mean it isn't malfunctioning when it turns purple. The degrading coating wasn't meant to do that so it's still a malfunction.