Neon is a noble gas used in neon signs and has many other applications, but is rare on Earth. It was discovered in 1898 and is identified by the symbol Ne. It is not dangerous unless in high concentrations.
Neon is a colourless, odorless and tasteless chemical element. Many consumers are familiar with neon because it is used in neon signs around the world. The characteristic bright color of these markings has led to the use of the word to describe the hue of any very brightly colored object. However, there are numerous other uses of the element besides advertising, which make its processing a generally profitable business. Like many other elements, pure neon is hard to find on Earth, so it must be obtained through a refining process.
The element is classified as a noble gas, making it highly stable and relatively non-reactive. Neon is the second lightest noble gas, after helium, and has an atomic number of 10. It is identified in the periodic table with the symbol Ne. The noble gases were first recognized in the late 1800s when scientists realized that an entire class of gases was missing from the periodic table of elements. Like other noble gases, neon does not form compounds easily, although it is not, strictly speaking, inert.
The discovery of neon occurred in 1898, when William Ramsay and Morris Travers, two chemists, were working with a sample of the Earth’s atmosphere. The two men cooled the sample so that it liquefied, then slowly heated it, trapping each individual gas as it boiled. The sample included three previously unidentified elements, xenon, krypton and neon. The name literally means ‘new’ in Greek, so one can only assume that the discoverers must have said ‘hm, here’s a new one’.
Curiously, although neon is the fifth most abundant element in the universe, it’s actually quite rare on Earth. Most of Earth’s neon is bound in the atmosphere and is extracted through a process known as fractional distillation, in which samples of liquefied air are processed to force their components apart. Since neon is relatively rare, it can get quite expensive. It is not dangerous unless it reaches high concentrations, in which case it can turn into an asphyxiant, displacing oxygen in the lungs and potentially causing death.
When neon conducts electricity, it takes on a distinctive reddish-orange color. Other so-called “neon” signs actually use other noble gases to obtain colors such as green and blue. Many colored indicators such as high voltage indicators also use the gas and the substance is also sometimes used in lasers. Neon is also used as a coolant and in high energy physics research.
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