What is Neon?

neon

Neon is a nonmetal chemical element that belongs to group 18 of the periodic table. It is a noble gas, meaning it has low chemical reactivity.

It is found naturally in the Earth’s atmosphere at a concentration of 0.0018 percent by mass. It can be extracted from liquefied air through fractional distillation, which is a process that separates different parts of air into atoms and molecules.

A rare gas, neon is 55 times more expensive to produce than liquid helium. It was first discovered in 1898 by British chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers, who had been searching for an element that sits between helium and argon in the periodic table.

When a few thousand volts are applied to it, neon glows a bright red-orange. This makes it an ideal substance to light up advertising signs and other objects.

The liquid form of neon is also used as a cryogenic refrigerant. It is 40 times more effective as a refrigerant than helium and three times better than hydrogen.

It is not toxic, but it can be hazardous if it is allowed to reach high concentrations in the environment. In high concentrations, it can turn into an asphyxiant, which displaces oxygen in the lungs and can cause death.