Neon is a gas that emits an orange/red light when it is exposed to a high voltage. This makes it ideal for use in neon signs. It is nonflammable, nontoxic, and odorless. It is a noble gas, which means it does not react with other elements. Neon is also found in the Sun and is important for understanding how planets form. It forms compounds with fluorine and other rare gases. It is highly inert and does not interact with other substances, however, it can asphyxiate if its vapors mix with water (see DOT Emergency Guidelines for Neon).
Ramsay and Travers discovered neon and its sister gases argon, krypton, and xenon by freezing samples of liquid air and evaporating them. They then passed a high voltage through the ions and found that they lit up. They named it neon after the Greek word for new, neos.
Modern luminous signs usually don’t contain pure neon, but rather a mixture of neon and argon. The other colors (blue, green, etc) are produced by combining neon with other noble gases.
Neon is used for a wide variety of applications, including cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and neon signs. It is also combined with helium to make a laser, and it is used as an indicator gas for high-voltage indicators and in Geiger counters. The largest use of neon, however, is in the manufacture of glowing advertising signs. Georges Claude developed the first practical neon tube in 1910, and his invention quickly became popular around the world.
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