Helium’s Happy And Lazy Cousin: Neon
In the year 1898, scientists Sir William Ramsey and William
Travers discovered three Noble gases. They were krypton, xenon,
and neon. The two scientists isolated the elements from liquid air
by cooling air to very low temperatures and removing each compound
as it condensed (Masterton, Slowinski, & Stanitski, 1981).
The newgases they discovered were inert. and all Noble Gases are said to be “inert”. Inert means does not normally react with anything else.
Victoria Wamback. V.E. Wamback, V.E., (2007).
The Noble gasses occupy the right hand edge
of the Periodic Table and include from smallest to largest atoms:
Helium
Neon
Argon
Krypton
Xenon
Radon
Neon is inert because it has eight electrons circling in its
outer shell. Atoms are happy when they have full outer shells with
eight electrons. Unhappy atoms join together so that they each
have eight electrons in their outside shells. All of the Noble
gasses are happy and have full outer shells. You might also say
neon is HAPPY all by itself because it has eight electrons circling
its outer shell (Bloomfield, 1980).
“Valence” is the concept of Octet Satisfaction or “Happiness”
with full outer electron shells in chemistry.
Neon’s boiling temperature is -245 degrees celcious. It’s melting
temperature is -248 degrees celcious. Neon’s density is about 0.9 grams per
liter. This means that a whole one-liter pop bottle of neon would
weigh less than one gram. It is about 10 parts per million in the
atmosphere. Because neon is happy, it is inert. That is, it forms
no compounds (Hodgeman & Holmes, 1941).
Neon is used in neon lights that hang in most store windows.
When the electricity goes through the neon gas it turns red-orange.
Other gases such as sodium and argon are used to make “neon” signs
with different colors.
Victoria Wamback. V.E. Wamback, V.E., 2007.
Helium’s Happy And Lazy Cousin: Neon
Helium.com, April 2007
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HODGMAN, C.D. & N.H. HOLMES. 1941
The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 1941.
Chemical Rubber Publishing Co. pg. 296.
BLOOMFIELD, M.M. 1980
Chemistry and the Living Organism. 1980.
John Wiley & Sons. pg. 131-135.
MASTERTON,W.L., E.J. SLOWINSKI, and C.L. STANITSKI. 1981
1981. Chemical Principals. Sanders College Publishing. pg 82.
