neon (Ne)

Term: neon (Ne)

Literally meaning: “new”

Origin: Anc Greek

νέος/neos(=new)

Coined/History 

It is amazing that in 42 days in 1908 English chemist Morris W. Travers (1872–1961) discovered three chemical elements neon, xenon, and krypton.  From 1895 untill 1900 Travers worked with English chemist (sir) William Ramsey (1852-1916) to find the missing gases that the periodic Table indicated should exist.  They chilled a sample of atmosphere until it became liquid, then warmed the liquid and captured the gases as they boiled off. The two managed to  isolate krypton in May 1898, and them a few days later, while examining  a large volume of argon, they separated a small quantity of elements which were mamed by Ramsey as neon and xenon. Travers later wrote “ the blaze of crimson light from the tube told its own story and was a sight to dwell upon and never forget… For the moment the actual spectrum of the gas did not matter in the least, for nothing in the world gave a glow such as we had seen.”

Definition

Neon is chemical element with atomic number 10 and atomic mass 20.1797 . It is colorless, inert noble gas that used for neon sighns. Neon with helium are used for gas lasers. It is commercially extracted from air in whisc it is found in trace amounts (1 part per 65,ooo of air).