Periodic Table of WIS

Neon  Ne

 

Where is neon used--or where does it impact our everyday lives?

 

Used pink/orange neon advertizing lights--other colored lights use different gases--blue "neon" lights could be produced by argon or mercury in the tubes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A spectral tube is a sealed glass tube containing a gas at a low pressure with a high electrical voltage across it.  The electrical energy causes electrons to be elevated to an excited state--electrons go to a higher emergy level.  As the electrons return to the ground state, their base level, energy is emitted.  The correct wavelengths of energy produce a particular color.

Neon has particular wavelengths weaker in the green region of the spectrum and stronger at the red end of the spectrum.

See a video of the neon spectral tube

WIS photography

 

This principle is used in neon lights--only the orangy-red light is actually neon gas, other materials produce other colors.  The neon is trapped in a glass tube at a very low pressure with two metal electrodes.  When sufficient electricity passes (e.g. a potential difference of several thousanfdvolts), neon's electrons are promoted to higher emergy levels--the excited state--and as they return to the normal, ground state--with neon producing strong emissions in the 630-660 nm region.  Follow the link to an example of a neon light  on Connecticut Avenue near WIS in Washington DC, USA

 

Neon

Symbol Ne   Atomic # 10
Colorless, odorless, tasteless gas at room temperature
Melting point -248.6*C
Boiling point -246*C
Density (at room temp.)  0.0009g/mL
Hazards: refrigerated liquid neon causes severe frostbite, the gas causes fatigue, vision disturbance, headache, confusion, dizziness and suffocation from loss of oxygen

Neon does not react with air
Solubility in water (or reaction) dissolves very slightly at 20 oC
Electron configuration 2,8
Main uses of the element vacuum tubes, high voltage indicators, lightning arrestors, wave meter tubes, television tubes, helium and neon lasers
Discovered 1898 by William Ramsay, Morris Travers in London, UK
In what form is the element found in nature gas

Because of its full outer shell of electrons, neon doesn’t react with other elements or compounds--YET!
 

Lanl.gov  Nj.gov  Researcher Maria H.