12 Interesting Facts about Neon: Noble Gas Element Atomic Number 10

1 Neon is the noblest and therefore most inert and unreactive of all the noble gases, A snobby antisocial who refuses to form compounds, this fact comes as a surprise when fluorine, neon’s neighboring element with only one proton less, is the most reactive of all the elements and is hard to isolate from compounds.

2 Place concentrated neon gas into a vacuum glass and pass an electric current through it via a copper wire, and the gas will glow an orange-red plasma, no other color.

Neon Lighting

3 Neon Facts

Atomic number: 10

Atomic weight: 20.1797

State: gas

Category: noble gas

Melting point: -249°C (-415°F)

Boiling point: -246°C (-411°F)

4 Neon is the fifth most abundant element of the universe (after hydrogen, helium, oxygen and carbon) yet only trace amounts of it can be found in our atmosphere – one part per every 65,000 to be precise. This scarcity is attributed to neon’s reluctance to bond with other solids. Being two-thirds lighter than air, is easily lost to space.

About Neon Light

5 Sir William Ramsay and Morris W Travers (who also discovered krypton earlier) discovered neon in 1898 after liquefying air by cooling it and then removing nitrogen, oxygen and argon by boiling them off. By using spectroscopy (studying the light a substance emits when heated) they discovered this dazzling gas.

6 Neon is taken from the Greek word for ‘new’, as it was new at the time. However, this name would no longer be applicable as time went on and other elements were discovered.

Interesting Neon Facts

Neon Symbol

7 Only three degrees Celsius separate neon’s boiling point from its melting point, which is -249°C to -246°C. It has the narrowest liquid range of all the elements.

8 Neon is able to maintain very low temperatures for long periods and is therefore used as an effective coolant for refrigeration and cryogenics.

Neon Signs for Advertising

9 The first neon tube was created by George Claude, a French engineer in 1910. He failed to sell neon lighting for domestic use, as the reddish color was off-putting to homeowners. Little did he foresee the demand of neon signs for advertising. Las Vegas, London, New York, Paris and Blackpool have a lot to thank the invention of the neon tube to brighten up the streets.

10 The neon sign is sometimes a misnomer depending upon the color emitted, as neon itself can only produce one color: orange-red. Green, yellow and blue neon signs are not neon, but other fluorescent and noble gasses.

11 The TV era couldn’t do without neon, a gas that is injected into vacuum tubes in the pre flat screen television sets. Neon is also used in plasma tubes and helium-neon lasers, ideal for special effects and surgical procedures.

12 The earth’s crust belches neon into our atmosphere via fumaroles, vents in the earth’s crust near volcanoes and thermal springs. Because it is so rare on this planet, liquid neon is extremely expensive.