Most people associate neon with eponymous illuminated signs in bar and restaurant windows, but the rare chemical has many more uses than that. It excels at lighting, cryogenic preservation, and various forms of safety applications, offering a wide array of potential use cases beyond buzzing bar signs.
Neon is a noble gas, meaning it only undergoes chemical reactions under high energy conditions. It is colorless, odorless, and inert under normal conditions. When it comes into contact with electricity, however, it becomes active and glows reddish orange.
Traditional neon lights consist of a tube with two electrodes on either end, one positive and one negative. When an alternating current is applied, the electricity creates enough energy to separate neon atoms inside the tube. Some of these atoms shed electrons, which fly towards the negative electrode. This is why these tubes glow – a process known as discharge.
In addition to its illuminating properties, neon has also played a major role in the basic understanding of atomic structure. In 1913, J. J. Thomson channeled streams of neon ions through magnetic and electric fields, recording their deflection on a photographic plate. His findings suggested that some atoms had more mass than others, which led to the first recognition of isotopes.
In modern times, neon is most often produced through fractional distillation of liquid air. The process leaves both helium and neon in the sample, which is separated through the use of activated charcoal. The process is expensive and not sustainable, so the element is more commonly sourced from natural gas wells in the United States, Japan, and Germany.
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