Neon gas:
Every fact about neon you'll ever need to know
Is neon a noble gas?
Yes, the chemical element neon is a noble gas and as such part of group 18 in the periodic table. The other naturally occurring members of this group are helium, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. In 2002, a synthetic noble gas was first synthesised and named oganesson in 2016, bringing the total number of noble gases up to seven.
Noble gases such as neon gas are known for their inertness, meaning a very low chemical reactivity.
What colour is neon gas?
Seems like you haven’t been paying attention, but we'll forgive you! Just kidding, of course. Under normal conditions, neon gas is colourless, but it has a bright red-orange glow (discharge) when electricity is applied.
Every noble gas has its own characteristic discharge colour. Those of the others are:
- helium: orange-yellow
- argon: lavender/light purple or light blue
- krypton: white-blueish
- xenon: blue
-
radon: red
photo credit: Pslawinski / CC BY-SA 2.5
What is neon's chemical symbol?
The chemical symbol for neon is Ne.
When was neon discovered?
Neon gas was first identified in 1898.
Who discovered neon?
Neon was discovered by the British chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers in London.
How was neon discovered?
William Ramsay discovered neon gas by extracting it from a sample of liquefied air. When the sample was turned back into its gaseous state by warming it, Ramsay could identify the contained gases individually. While nitrogen, oxygen and argon were already known at the time, the first new gas to be discovered thus was krypton in May 1898, with neon following in June and xenon in September of the same year.
Is neon rare?
Yes and no. Neon is actually the fifth most abundant chemical element in the universe by mass, behind only hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and carbon.
On Earth and Earth-like planets, though, neon and neon gas are considerably more rare, due to its relative lightness and its low reactivity with other elements which make it highly volatile.
Where is neon found?
On Earth, neon gas is mostly found in the atmosphere, where it makes up 1 part in 55,000 (or 0,00182%). It is also found in the Earth's crust, but at an even smaller fraction.
Neon isotopes are produced in the cores of stars and its genesis requires temperatures over 100 megakelvin.
How is neon made?
Neon gas is exclusively filtered from the atmosphere. It is industrially produced by cryogenic fractional distillation of liquefied air. In order to produce one pound of neon, it’s necessary to process 88,000 pounds of liquid air.
Currently, about 70% of the global neon supply is produced in Ukraine, but the ongoing political conflicts with Russia are accelerating a shift to suppliers in China.
Is neon a gas only?
Neon is in a gaseous state at room temperature. It is the second-lightest noble gas, after helium, and is usually found in the form of molecules consisting of a single neon atom.
In its liquefied state, neon is commercially used as a cryogenic refrigerant, with refrigerating properties that are higher than those of helium and hydrogen. Skin contact with liquid neon can cause frostbite.
What is the freezing point of neon?
Neon liquefies at -246.048 °C (-410.883 °F) and freezes at -248.59 °C (-415.45 °F). This means there is only a range of 2.544 °C between neon's boiling point and melting point, which makes it the element with the smallest temperature range for which it is liquid.
What are neon compounds?
A compound, generally, is a substance that is made up of two or more chemical elements that are combined in a fixed ratio. Neon compounds, specifically, are chemical compounds that contain the element neon as well as one or more other elements or molecules.
As neon is an inert gas, there are no known stable neon compounds in nature. Neon can however, form unstable compounds or weak bonds with other substances under very specific (extreme) circumstances, such as very low temperatures and high pressure. When forming clathrates or Van der Waals molecules under these conditions, neon has been shown to crystallise. It is hypothesised that neon may form a compound with fluorine, although this remains to be proven.
Chemical and physical properties of neon
Neon gas is generally known as inert (as described above), monatomic, colourless, odourless, tasteless, lighter than air, and noncombustible under standard conditions.
What are the chemical properties of neon?
- periodic table classification: group 18, period 2
- atomic number (= number of protons in the nucleus): 10
- atomic mass: 20.179 g/mol-1
- density: 0.000825 g/cm3
What are the physical properties of neon?
- melting point: -248.59 °C (-415.45 °F)
- boiling point: 246.048 °C (-410.883 °F)
- triple point (= the point at which the three phases of a substance coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium): 24.5561 K (248.5 °C)
Fun facts & interesting facts about neon
- The name "neon" comes from the Greek word for "new", νέος (neos).
-
Neon is a mix of three stable isotopes: 20Ne (abundance: 90.48%), 21Ne (abundance: 0.27%) and 22Ne (abundance: 9.25%). Several other (unstable) neon isotopes are known.
- Neon is non-toxic and chemically inert, and thus has no ecological or biological effects on the environment.
- Neon is classified as a simple asphyxiant, which means that inhalation of very large quantities lead to asphyxiation (suffocation) by displacement of oxygen.
- Applications of neon gas include vacuum tubes, high-voltage indicators, lightning arresters, television tubes, helium-neon lasers – and of course neon signs.
- Neon gas is most commonly used in low-voltage glow lamps and high-voltage discharge tubes (= neon signs).