When consulting manuals, electricians, online sources, etc.,they always instruct you to handle halogen light bulbs withgloves.
The \"explanation\" that usually accompanies this statement isthat oils and salts from a bare hand can \"react\" with thesurrounding glass/quartz, owing to the fact that halogen bulbs aremuch hotter than ordinary ones. These reactions would cause weakspots in the quartz (or in some versions of the story, thefilament), decreasing the lifetime of the bulb.
Is there any merit to this explanation? What are then theprecise mechanisms involved in the bulb's degradation when the bulbis touched by a dirty monkey finger?
