Neon (Ne) is a colorless, non-metallic, extremely inert gas with the atomic number ten. In a vacuum tube, this member of the noble gas class glows reddish orange. The chemical element neon has the symbol Ne and the atomic number 10. It is classified as a noble gas. Under normal conditions, neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas with about two-thirds the density of air.
Interesting facts about Neon:
In 1898, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers discovered neon while experimenting with liquid air.
Prior to discovering neon, the scientists had only recently discovered krypton and would soon discover xenon.
When nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide are removed from air, neon, krypton, and xenon are left over.
The Earth’s atmosphere contains trace amounts of neon.
The concentration of neon in the atmosphere is approximately 1 part in 55,000, or 18.2 parts per million (ppm) by volume or 1 part in 79,000 by mass of air.
It can be produced commercially as a byproduct of air liquefaction.
Neon is roughly two-thirds the density of air.
After helium, neon is the second lightest inert gas and the second lightest noble gas.
There are three stable isotopes.
Georges Claude started making neon lighting in 1902 because he had leftover neon from his air liquefaction company.
Georges Claude attempted to create interior home lighting using neon lights in vacuum tubes in 1910, but homeowners rejected the idea due to its color.
Neon has a refrigerating capacity forty times that of liquid helium and three times that of liquid hydrogen.
After hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and carbon, neon is the fifth most abundant chemical element in the universe.
It has a mass abundance of about one part in 750 in the universe.
Due to the scarcity of neon, liquid neon is approximately 55 times more expensive than liquid helium.
While neon glows a reddish orange in commercial signage, other noble gases produce the other neon colors.
