Neon, along with helium, argon, krypton and xenon, is one of the noble gases that makes up part of Earth’s atmosphere. They are odorless, colorless and monatomic (exist as individual atoms). Like all noble gases, they conduct electricity and light up when an electric current runs through them. They also have full valence shells, meaning they are the least reactive elements of their type.
Most people know that neon lights up a bright reddish orange when electricity passes through it, but there’s more to this interesting chemical than just a glowing bar sign. It can be used in high-voltage indicators, as a coolant and even in fracking applications to detect leaks of lethal contaminants such as methane.
Unlike most of the other noble gases, neon does not form compounds in the environment and is therefore non-toxic. It can only be hazardous if inhaled at high concentrations, in which case it acts as an asphyxiant by displacing oxygen from the lungs. At low levels, symptoms include rapid breathing and air hunger; at higher levels they may lead to faulty judgment, emotional instability and fatigue leading eventually to coma and death.
Neon is found in the atmosphere around Earth and on other planets, but it only makes up about 1 part in 55,000 of the air’s composition (or 0.00182%). It can be extracted from liquefied air by cryogenic fractional distillation.