The current ionizes the gas, and when the electrons fall back into their orbits, they emit light of very specific frequencies. (So much so that I got them for a bargain price because the seller thought the were empty.)īut set up an electric current through almost any gas, and things are completely different. My beautiful set of noble gas flasks is beautiful because of the flasks, not what's in them, which is indistinguishable from plain air or vacuum. With the exception of chlorine and bromine they all look exactly the same: Like nothing at all. ![]() In some ways, gases are a pain from a sample point of view. You can see pictures of all the arcs along with a picture of the display stand I built for them (between 10PM and midnight of the evening they arrived) a using some of the same Carlson Maple used for the noble gas tiles on the table.īy the way, isn't it a cute oxymoron: Reagent-grade non-reactive gas. In fact, if they were empty, I would have gotten an arc, because the arc works through up to about half an inch of ordinary air. The others almost certainly failed because the type and pressure of gas in them does not support an arc, not because they are empty. Whether this is possible is sensitive to the pressure of the gas, which is not known.įortunately, it worked beautifully on three out of the five, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt that those three at least contain the gas claimed. I've learned that one normally uses a steel ball, held up with a magnet, to break the seal: When you've hooked up and flushed out all the connecting tubes, you pull away the magnet and the ball drops onto the seal, breaking it and releasing the gas.Īfter many unworkable suggestions for proving whether the gases were still in there, several people came up with the idea of using a high voltage transformer, such as one finds in those now inexpensive plasma ball novelty lights, to try to set up an arc inside the flask, and identify the gas from the color of the discharge. There's no visible way for the gas to have escaped. I very much doubt, however, that they are empty: At the bottom where the flask meets the tube, there is a tiny inner breakaway seal that is completely intact on all five of them. I got a set of five different noble gas flasks on eBay for $13.50, which seemed like a good deal even though the seller described them as "probably empty". This bulb was extracted from a 120V indicator lamp purchased at Radio Shack in May 2002. Theoretically it could be used as a shield gas the same way argon is, but it isn't commonly used this way: Argon is cheaper. (Actually mercury and sodium vapors produce more light, but of less desirable color.)Īs a noble gas neon is inert, unwilling to react with anything. Look at my comparison of noble gas lights and you'll see why: It produces by far the brightest light. ![]() Think of neon and I think of neon lights, those wonderful, magical glowing tubes that spell out the world's advertising messages, OPEN signs, and colored messages of all sorts. My periodic table poster is now available! Facts, pictures, stories about the element Neon in the Periodic Table
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