Neon is a colorless, odorless noble gas with the chemical symbol Ne and atomic number 10, existing as single atoms under all normal conditions. Discovered in 1898 by William Ramsay and Morris Travers through the fractional distillation of liquid air, neon gets its name from the Greek word “neos” meaning “new,” and immediately captivated scientists with its brilliant reddish-orange glow in discharge tubes. Though it comprises only 18 parts per million of Earth’s atmosphere, neon transformed advertising and nightlife when Georges Claude commercialized neon signs in 1910, creating the iconic glowing displays that came to define urban landscapes worldwide. As the fifth most abundant element in the universe but rare on Earth due to its inability to form compounds, neon remains expensive to extract yet irreplaceable for applications ranging from high-voltage indicators to excimer lasers used in semiconductor manufacturing.

Find out about the noble gasses as a group here [Helium (He), Neon (Ne), Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), Xenon (Xe), Radon (Rn), Oganesson (Og)]. Find a review of the 50 most important industrial gases here.

20 Fun Facts About Neon

Beyond the basics above, what else should we know about Neon? Check out the 20 fun facts below!

1. Neon glows reddish-orange in signs, but adding mercury vapor creates blue, while other gases produce different “neon” colors.
2. The gas is lighter than air at -246°C when liquid, but heavier than air as a gas – one of few substances with this property.
3. Neon signs use 50-100 watts per meter but appear brighter than equivalent LED displays due to monochromatic emission.
4. A cubic kilometer of air contains only 18 cubic meters of neon, making extraction require processing enormous volumes.
5. The element has the narrowest liquid range of any element – just 2.6 degrees between melting and boiling points.
6. Neon-helium lasers produce the straightest lines known to science, used to align the Large Hadron Collider’s 27-km tunnel.
7. Las Vegas casinos collectively use enough neon to extract from 10 billion cubic meters of air annually.
8. Neon atoms are perfectly spherical with no chemical bonds possible – the most “noble” of all noble gases.
9. Lightning creates tiny amounts of neon compounds for nanoseconds before they decompose back to pure neon.
10. The gas costs $300-500 per cubic meter, making neon signs expensive to refill when they slowly leak.
11. Neon plasma reaches 50,000°C in laser tubes but the gas itself remains cool due to poor thermal conductivity.
12. Japan extracts neon from volcanic gases where concentrations reach 50 times atmospheric levels near certain vents.
13. The element’s 10 electrons fill exactly two shells, making it the perfect example of electronic stability in chemistry.
14. Neon breathing mixtures prevent nitrogen narcosis in deep diving, though the gas costs 100 times more than helium.
15. The Moon’s thin atmosphere contains neon from solar wind, detected by Apollo 17’s mass spectrometer in 1972.
16. Neon tubes last 10-15 years running continuously because the gas doesn’t react with electrodes like other gases.
17. The gas becomes metallic at 200 GPa pressure, glowing white-hot from resistance heating in diamond anvil cells.
18. MRI machines use liquid neon at -246°C to pre-cool helium systems, saving expensive liquid helium.
19. Stars fuse neon into magnesium at 1.2 billion degrees, marking the final stages before supernova explosion.
20. George Claude’s first neon sign at a Paris barbershop in 1912 caused traffic jams from curious crowds.

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