How Neon Affects Other Colors

Neon is one of the most vibrant colors available, and it can be used to add instant visual interest to your design. However, it’s important to consider how your neon colors will interact with other shades and elements in your overall design scheme. It’s also critical to balance the vibrancy of neon with a more muted, classic color palette in order to avoid overwhelming your audience.

Typically, neon is incorporated into signs or other lighting fixtures to display letters and symbols. It’s most commonly found in red, green, pink, and yellow but can be produced in many other colors as well. Neon is element number 10 on the periodic table and has three stable isotopes.

When an alternating electric current is passed through the neon gas inside a tube, it strips electrons from the gas’s atoms, leaving positively charged ions that conduct electricity. This process is called ionization. When a second high-voltage electric current is then passed through the ionized neon, it creates an electric discharge that emits light. The specific color of the light depends on the energy state (or “excitation”) of the neon atoms, as determined by their distance from their ground state.

Neon is inert and odorless in its natural state, and it has the lowest boiling point of any noble gas. It is a monatomic gas and is therefore lighter than air, so a neon sign would float if it were in a balloon. Neon is a member of the noble gas group, along with helium, argon, krypton, and xenon. Neon was discovered by Scottish chemist William Ramsay and Morris Travers in 1898, and it gets its name from the Greek word for new, neos.