December 3 – Neon Glow!

December 3, 2021

Posted on December 3, 2021

This is an update of my post published on December 3, 2010:

The orange-red glowing light now used for neon signs was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show (an automobile show) on this date in 1910.

Neon lighting was developed by the French physicist Georges Claude. He passed an electric current through a glass tube filled with neon gas. He also had to invent a way to purify the neon gas and a way to minimize the sputtering of the electrodes that go between the power supply and the gas.

(By the way, Claude made many other scientific advances and inventions as well. Some people call him the Thomas Edison of France. He collaborated with the Nazis when they took over France during World War II, however, and ruined his reputation with many people.)

Neon gas is inert. That means it doesn’t react with other elements.

(Hydrogen and oxygen are examples of gases that definitely DO react with other elements—and burn!)

Neither hydrogen nor oxygen are inert.
They easily and readily combine with other
elements – and they burn!

Helium is also inert, which is why it is safe to use inside children’s balloons. It glows pink when electricity passes through it. The other inert gases that are used for lighting include xenon, which produces a soft lavender light, and argon (enhanced with mercury), which produces a brilliant blue light. Other colors are achieved by combining different gases, including the other inert gas, krypton, which glows yellow-green.

To learn more about inert gases, check out Chem 4 Kids.

A fellow named Earle C. Anthony, brought neon lighting to America in 1923 when he bought two signs in Paris and installed them in his Los Angeles car dealership. For decades Times Square in New York City and Las Vegas in Nevada have been famous for their elaborate use of neon lighting (including signage using other inert gases) and, of course, other sorts of lighting as well!

Neon Colors

Sometimes you see felt pens or paints, clothing or shoes advertised as being “bright neon colors.” That means colors that seem to glow—even though of course they have nothing to do, really, with the element neon.

Neon green seems to me to be an oxymoron – because
neon’s red-orange glow is the polar opposite of green!

Glow sticks and glow jewelry are often marketed as “neon sticks” or described as being “neon colors.” Again, these light sticks and colors have nothing to do with the element neon or any other inert gas, and they don’t use electricity. Instead, they use chemicals that react together to excite atoms, which release light.