An electron gun is a component that produces an electron stream that has a precise kinetic energy, being used in all TVs and monitors which use cathode ray tube technology.

It is formed of two parts: a metal filament, which is heated to create a stream of electrons (a thermionic emission), and an electric field, which accelerates them to reach the anode.

Most color CRTs (such as is used in a color television set) is made up of three electron guns, each one producing a different stream of electrons and which stream electrons through a shadow mask where the stream from each electron gun will impinge upon either a red, green or blue phosphor to light up a color dot of a pixel of the screen, the resultant color (or white) a combination of these three primary colors.

External links

• Howstuffworks.com: electron gun