neon Essay -- essays research papers

Did you know that neon is a Greek word that means "new"? Neon is the element that I am most interested in. I chose to do neon because I found out what many uses it has in our daily life. Neon is the element that allows you to watch TV. Without neon we would never see the cool flashing signs outside of diners and bars. In my essay I am going to tell you about neon and its many uses. First, I'm going to tell you about the history and uses of neon. Neon was discovered by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris M. Travers, an English chemist, shortly after their discovery of the element krypton in 1898. Neon is one of the most amusing elements used today. Neon mixed with some other elements can make a bright light in an enclosed tube. This is mostly used in advertising signs (figure A) (A blue or green coloration in the discharge can be done by adding a little mercury to the neon in the discharge tube), but when used in a different mixture of molecules it can make the figures on your TV (figure B). Neon is also used in High voltage indicators (figure C) and neon-helium laser pointers (figure D). Now I?m going to give you the chemical breakdown of neon. Neon?s atomic number is #10. Neon has 10 protons, 10 neutrons, and 10 electrons. It belongs to the Noble Gas section of the periodic table. Its atomic mass is 20.1797. All the noble gases have the maximum number of electrons possible in their outer shell making them stable and un...