When we think of neon, we typically picture those brightly colored signs used for commercial advertising. The orange-red glow of this noble gas is familiar to us because it’s the primary color that’s produced in traditional glass tubes, also known as neon discharge tubes or cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL).
The first signs to use neon were made in 1912 and they became a common sight around Christmas of that year. It took a few years before scientists realized how to make the gases and tubes that we know so well, but when they did, their discovery changed the world of advertising and lighting forever.
Neon was discovered in 1898 by a pair of British chemists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers. Ramsay chilled air and then warmed it, allowing the gas molecules to separate into their individual elements. He quickly identified nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, but had to wait for six weeks before he finally isolated krypton and neon. He named the latter after its Greek analogue, novum, meaning “new.”
Neon is present in small amounts in the atmosphere and can be isolated by chilling air and separating it into its component gases. The most common isotope is neon-20, which makes up about 90% of natural neon. This is the most stable isotope and the least reactive, although it can form compounds with fluorine. Like most other noble gases, neon is nonflammable and noncombustible. However, it is not inert, and can asphyxiate if inhaled. Contact with very cold liquefied neon gas can result in violent boiling and rapid vaporization of the liquid.
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