Neon

File:NeTube.jpgs forming neon's element symbol]]

Neon was discovered in 1898 by the British chemists Sir William Ramsay (1852–1916) and Morris Travers (1872–1961) in London. Neon was discovered when Ramsay chilled a sample of air until it became a liquid, then warmed the liquid and captured the gases as they boiled off. The gases nitrogen, oxygen, and argon had been identified, but the remaining gases were isolated in roughly their order of abundance, in a six-week period beginning at the end of May 1898. The first remaining gas to be identified was krypton; the next, after krypton had been removed, was a gas which gave a brilliant red light under spectroscopic discharge. This gas, identified in June, was named "neon", the Greek analogue of the Latin {{Lang|la|novum}} ('new'){{cite web |url=http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/st2.5/scenes-e/elem/e01000.html |title=Neon: History |access-date=27 February 2007 |publisher=Softciências |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314232318/http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/st2.5/scenes-e/elem/e01000.html |archive-date=14 March 2007 }} suggested by Ramsay's son. The characteristic brilliant red-orange color emitted by gaseous neon when excited electrically was noted immediately. 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."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJIk9BPdNWcC&pg=PA287|title=Discovery of the Elements: Third Edition (reprint)|last=Weeks|first=Mary Elvira|date=2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-3872-8|page=287|author-link=Mary Elvira Weeks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322191804/http://books.google.com/books?id=SJIk9BPdNWcC&pg=PA287|archive-date=22 March 2015|url-status=live}}

A second gas was also reported along with neon, having approximately the same density as argon but with a different spectrum – Ramsay and Travers named it metargon.

{{cite web

|url = https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1904/ramsay-lecture.html

|title = Nobel Lecture – The Rare Gases of the Atmosphere

|last = Ramsay

|first = Sir William

|date = 12 December 1904

|website = nobelprize.org

|publisher = Nobel Media AB

|access-date = 15 November 2015

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151113111406/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1904/ramsay-lecture.html

|archive-date = 13 November 2015

}}

However, the subsequent spectroscopic analysis revealed it to be argon contaminated with carbon monoxide. Finally, the same team discovered xenon by the same process, in September 1898.

Neon's scarcity precluded its prompt application for lighting along the lines of Moore tubes, which used nitrogen and which were commercialized in the early 1900s. After 1902, Georges Claude's company Air Liquide produced industrial quantities of neon as a byproduct of his air-liquefaction business. In December 1910 Claude demonstrated modern neon lighting based on a sealed tube of neon. Claude tried briefly to sell neon tubes for indoor domestic lighting, due to their intensity, but the market failed because homeowners objected to the color. In 1912, Claude's associate began selling neon discharge tubes as eye-catching advertising signs and was instantly more successful. Neon tubes were introduced to the U.S. in 1923 with two large neon signs bought by a Los Angeles Packard car dealership. The glow and arresting red color made neon advertising completely different from the competition.{{cite news

|url = http://nymag.com/shopping/features/41814/

|title = Neon: A Brief History

|last = Mangum

|first = Aja

|access-date = 20 May 2008

|date = 8 December 2007

|newspaper = New York Magazine

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080415165748/http://nymag.com/shopping/features/41814/

|archive-date = 15 April 2008

}} The intense color and vibrancy of neon equated with American society at the time, suggesting a "century of progress" and transforming cities into sensational new environments filled with radiating advertisements and "electro-graphic architecture".{{Cite journal |last=Golec |first=Michael J. |year=2010 |title=Logo/Local Intensities: Lacan, the Discourse of the Other, and the Solicitation to "Enjoy" |journal=Design and Culture |volume=2 |issue=2|pages=167–181 |doi=10.2752/175470710X12696138525622 |s2cid=144257608 }}{{Cite news |title=Electro-Graphic Architecture |last=Wolfe |first=Tom |date=October 1968 |work=Architecture Canada }}

Neon played a role in the basic understanding of the nature of atoms in 1913, when J. J. Thomson, as part of his exploration into the composition of canal rays, channeled streams of neon ions through a magnetic and an electric field and measured the deflection of the streams with a photographic plate. Thomson observed two separate patches of light on the photographic plate (see image), which suggested two different parabolas of deflection. Thomson eventually concluded that some of the atoms in the neon gas were of higher mass than the rest. Though not understood at the time by Thomson, this was the first discovery of isotopes of stable atoms. Thomson's device was a crude version of the instrument we now term a mass spectrometer.

{{Main|Isotopes of neon}}

File:Discovery of neon isotopes.JPG's photographic plate are the separate impact marks for the two isotopes neon-20 and neon-22.]]

Neon has three stable isotopes: ²⁰Ne (90.48%), ²¹Ne (0.27%) and ²²Ne (9.25%).{{NUBASE2020|ref}} ²¹Ne and ²²Ne are partly primordial and partly nucleogenic (i.e. made by nuclear reactions of other nuclides with neutrons or other particles in the environment) and their variations in natural abundance are well understood. In contrast, ²⁰Ne (the chief primordial isotope made in stellar nucleosynthesis) is not known to be nucleogenic or radiogenic, except from the decay of oxygen-20, which is produced in very rare cases of cluster decay by thorium-228. The causes of the variation of ²⁰Ne in the Earth have thus been hotly debated.{{cite book|isbn = 978-0-521-82316-6|chapter = Neon|page = 303|title = Radiogenic isotope geology|author1 = Dickin, Alan P|date = 2005| publisher=Cambridge University Press }}

The principal nuclear reactions generating nucleogenic neon isotopes start from ²⁴Mg and ²⁵Mg, which produce ²¹Ne and ²²Ne respectively, after neutron capture and immediate emission of an alpha particle. The neutrons that produce the reactions are mostly produced by secondary spallation reactions from alpha particles, in turn derived from uranium-series decay chains. The net result yields a trend towards lower ²⁰Ne/²²Ne and higher ²¹Ne/²²Ne ratios observed in uranium-rich rocks such as granites.[http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/isoig/period/ne_iig.html Resources on Isotopes Periodic Table—Neon] at the U.S. Geological Survey, by Eric Caldwell, posted January 2004, retrieved 10 February 2011

In addition, isotopic analysis of exposed terrestrial rocks has demonstrated the cosmogenic (cosmic ray) production of ²¹Ne. This isotope is generated by spallation reactions on magnesium, sodium, silicon, and aluminium. By analyzing all three isotopes, the cosmogenic component can be resolved from magmatic neon and nucleogenic neon. This suggests that neon will be a useful tool in determining cosmic exposure ages of surface rocks and meteorites.{{cite web |url=http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/st2.5/scenes-e/elem/e01093.html |title=Neon: Isotopes |access-date=27 February 2007 |publisher=Softciências |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115190653/http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/st2.5/scenes-e/elem/e01093.html |archive-date=15 November 2012 }}

Neon in solar wind contains a higher proportion of ²⁰Ne than nucleogenic and cosmogenic sources. Neon content observed in samples of volcanic gases and diamonds is also enriched in ²⁰Ne, suggesting a primordial, possibly solar origin.{{cite web |url=http://www.mantleplumes.org/Ne.html |title=Helium, Neon & Argon |access-date=2 July 2006 |author=Anderson, Don L. |publisher=Mantleplumes.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060528113659/http://www.mantleplumes.org/Ne.html |archive-date=28 May 2006 }}

Neon is the second-lightest noble gas, after helium. Like other noble gases, neon is colorless and odorless. It glows reddish-orange in a vacuum discharge tube. It has over 40 times the refrigerating capacity (per unit volume) of liquid helium and three times that of liquid hydrogen. In most applications it is a less expensive refrigerant than helium.{{cite web |url=http://www.nassmc.org/bulletin/dec05bulletin.html#table |title=NASSMC: News Bulletin |access-date=5 March 2007 |date=30 December 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213072031/http://www.nassmc.org/bulletin/dec05bulletin.html |archive-date=13 February 2007 }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhVEI52-VE8C&pg=PA195 |page=195|title=Fundamentals of Cryogenic Engineering |isbn=9788120330573 |last1=Mukhopadhyay |first1=Mamata |date=2012 |publisher=PHI Learning Pvt. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116145946/https://books.google.com/books?id=nhVEI52-VE8C&pg=PA195 |archive-date=16 November 2017}} Despite helium surpassing neon in terms of ionization energy, neon is theorized to be the least reactive of all the elements, even less so than the former.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IoFzgBSSCwEC&pg=PA70|title=Modelling Marvels|last=Lewars|first=Errol G.|publisher=Springer|date=2008|isbn=978-1-4020-6972-7|pages=70–71|bibcode=2008moma.book.....L}}

File:Visible spectrum of neon.jpg of neon shows individual wavelengths of light contributing to its perceived colour when heated.]]

Neon plasma has the most intense light discharge at normal voltages and currents of all the noble gases. The average color of this light to the human eye is red-orange due to many lines in this range; it also contains a strong green line, which is hidden, unless the visual components are dispersed by a spectroscope.{{cite web |url=http://www.electricalfun.com/plasma.htm |title=Plasma |access-date=5 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307005259/http://www.electricalfun.com/plasma.htm |archive-date=7 March 2007 }}

Stable isotopes of neon are produced in stars. Neon's most abundant isotope ²⁰Ne (90.48%) is created by the nuclear fusion of carbon and carbon in the carbon-burning process of stellar nucleosynthesis. This requires temperatures above 500 megakelvins, which occur in the cores of stars of more than 8 solar masses.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fXcdHyLUVnEC&q=neon+cosmic+nucleosynthesis&pg=PA106|title=Handbook of Isotopes in the Cosmos: Hydrogen to Gallium|last=Clayton|first=Donald|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0521823814|pages=106–107}}{{cite book|author1=Ryan, Sean G. |author2=Norton, Andrew J. | title=Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis | year=2010 | page=135| isbn=978-0-521-13320-3|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PE4yGiU-JyEC&q=carbong+burning}}

Neon is abundant on a universal scale; it is the fifth most abundant chemical element in the universe by mass, after hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and carbon (see chemical element).{{cite journal |bibcode=2009ARA&A..47..481A |doi=10.1146/annurev.astro.46.060407.145222 |title=The Chemical Composition of the Sun |journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=481–522 |year=2009 |last1=Asplund |first1=Martin |last2=Grevesse |first2=Nicolas |last3=Sauval |first3=A. Jacques |last4=Scott |first4=Pat |arxiv=0909.0948|s2cid=17921922 }} Its relative rarity on Earth, like that of helium, is due to its relative lightness, high vapor pressure at very low temperatures, and chemical inertness, all properties which tend to keep it from being trapped in the condensing gas and dust clouds that formed the smaller and warmer solid planets like Earth.

Neon is monatomic, making it lighter than the molecules of diatomic nitrogen and oxygen which form the bulk of Earth's atmosphere; a balloon filled with neon will rise in air, albeit more slowly than a helium balloon.{{cite book |title = Chemistry for Higher Tier |author = Gallagher, R. |author2 = Ingram, P. |publisher = University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-914817-2 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SJtWSy69eVsC&pg=PA96 |pages = 282 |date = 19 July 2001}}

Neon's abundance in the universe is about 1 part in 750 by mass; in the Sun and presumably in its proto-solar system nebula, about 1 part in 600.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} The Galileo spacecraft atmospheric entry probe found that in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, the abundance of neon is reduced (depleted) by about a factor of 10, to a level of 1 part in 6,000 by mass. This may indicate that the ice-planetesimals that brought neon into Jupiter from the outer solar system formed in a region that was too warm to retain the neon atmospheric component (abundances of heavier inert gases on Jupiter are several times that found in the Sun),{{cite web |url=http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/gll38.html |title=Galileo Probe Science Result |access-date=27 February 2007 |last=Morse |first=David |date=26 January 1996 |publisher=Galileo Project |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224232055/http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/gll38.html |archive-date=24 February 2007 }} or that neon is selectively sequestered in the planet's interior.{{citation | title=Sequestration of Noble Gases in Giant Planet Interiors | last1=Wilson | first1=Hugh F. | last2=Militzer | first2=Burkhard | journal=Physical Review Letters | volume=104 | issue=12 | pages=121101 | id=121101 | date=March 2010 | doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.121101 | pmid=20366523 | bibcode=2010PhRvL.104l1101W | arxiv=1003.5940 | s2cid=9850759 | postscript=. }}

Neon comprises 1 part in 55,000 in the Earth's atmosphere, or 18.2 ppm by volume (this is about the same as the molecule or mole fraction), or 1 part in 79,000 of air by mass. It comprises a smaller fraction in the crust. It is industrially produced by cryogenic fractional distillation of liquefied air.

On 17 August 2015, based on studies with the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft, NASA scientists reported the detection of neon in the exosphere of the moon.{{cite web |last=Steigerwald |first=William |title=NASA's LADEE Spacecraft Finds Neon in Lunar Atmosphere |url=http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/ladee-lunar-neon |date=17 August 2015 |work=NASA |access-date=18 August 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150819035151/http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/ladee-lunar-neon/ |archive-date=19 August 2015 }}

File:Ne-water clathrate.png|300x300px]]

{{main|Neon compounds}}

Neon is the first p-block noble gas and the first element with a true octet of electrons. It is inert: as is the case with its lighter analog, helium, no strongly bound neutral molecules containing neon have been identified. An example of neon compound is Cr(CO)₅Ne, which contains a very weak Ne-Cr bond.{{cite journal|last1=Perutz|first1=Robin N.|last2=Turner|first2=James J. |title=Photochemistry of the Group 6 hexacarbonyls in low-temperature matrices. III. Interaction of the pentacarbonyls with noble gases and other matrices|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|date=August 1975|volume=97|issue=17|pages=4791–4800 |doi=10.1021/ja00850a001|bibcode=1975JAChS..97.4791P }} The ions [NeAr]⁺, [NeH]⁺, and [HeNe]⁺ have been observed from optical and mass spectrometric studies. Solid neon clathrate hydrate was produced from water ice and neon gas at pressures 350–480 MPa and temperatures about −30 °C.{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.1410690111 |pmid=25002464 |pmc=4115495 |year=2014 |last1=Yu |first1=X. |title=Crystal structure and encapsulation dynamics of ice II-structured neon hydrate |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=111 |issue=29 |pages=10456–61 |last2=Zhu |first2=J. |last3=Du |first3=S. |last4=Xu |first4=H. |last5=Vogel |first5=S. C. |last6=Han |first6=J. |last7=Germann |first7=T. C. |last8=Zhang |first8=J. |last9=Jin |first9=C. |last10=Francisco |first10=J. S. |last11=Zhao |first11=Y. |bibcode=2014PNAS..11110456Y|doi-access=free }} Ne atoms are not bonded to water and can freely move through this material. They can be extracted by placing the clathrate into a vacuum chamber for several days, yielding ice XVI, the least dense crystalline form of water.{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/nature14014 |pmid=25503235 |title=Formation and properties of ice XVI obtained by emptying a type sII clathrate hydrate |journal=Nature |volume=516 |issue=7530 |pages=231–3 |year=2014 |last1=Falenty |first1=Andrzej |last2=Hansen |first2=Thomas C. |last3=Kuhs |first3=Werner F. |bibcode=2014Natur.516..231F|s2cid=4464711 }}

The familiar Pauling electronegativity scale relies upon chemical bond energies, but such values have obviously not been measured for inert helium and neon. The Allen electronegativity scale, which relies only upon (measurable) atomic energies, identifies neon as the most electronegative element, closely followed by fluorine and helium.{{cite journal |doi=10.1021/ja00207a003 |title=Electronegativity is the average one-electron energy of the valence-shell electrons in ground-state free atoms|year=1989|author=Allen, Leland C.|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |volume=111|pages=9003–9014 |issue=25|bibcode=1989JAChS.111.9003A }}

The triple point temperature of neon (24.5561 K) is a defining fixed point in the International Temperature Scale of 1990.{{cite web |url=http://www.its-90.com/ |title=The Internet resource for the International Temperature Scale of 1990 |access-date=7 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815110916/http://www.its-90.com/ |archive-date=15 August 2009}}

Neon is produced from air in cryogenic air-separation plants. A gas-phase mixture mainly of nitrogen, neon, helium, and hydrogen{{Cite web |title=Neon {{!}} Definition, Uses, Melting Point, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/neon-chemical-element |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} is withdrawn from the main condenser at the top of the high-pressure air-separation column and fed to the bottom of a side column for rectification of the neon.{{cite book|author1=Shreve, R. Norris |author2=Brink, Joseph |title=Chemical Process Industries|date=1977|isbn=0-07-057145-7|page=113|publisher=McGraw-Hill |edition=4th}} It can then be further purified from helium by bringing it into contact with activated charcoal. Hydrogen is purified from the neon by adding oxygen so water is formed and is condensed. One pound of pure neon can be produced from the processing of 88,000 pounds of the gas-phase mixture.

Before the 2022 escalation of the war with Russia about 70% of the global neon supply was produced in Ukraine{{cite news |title=Explained: Why the Russia-Ukraine crisis may lead to a shortage in semiconductors|author=Mukul, Pranav | date= 29 March 2022|url=https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/in-depth/explained-why-the-russia-ukraine-crisis-may-lead-to-a-shortage-in-semiconductors/ar-AAUZRlP |work=MSN |publisher=The Indian Express }} as a by-product of steel production in Russia.{{Cite news |last=Alper |first=Alexandra |date=11 March 2022 |title=Exclusive: Russia's attack on Ukraine halts half of world's neon output for chips |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-ukraine-halts-half-worlds-neon-output-chips-clouding-outlook-2022-03-11/ |access-date=16 March 2022}} {{As of|2020}}, the company Iceblick, with plants in Odesa and Moscow, supplies 65% of the world's production of neon, as well as 15% of the krypton and xenon.{{cite web |title=Rare Gasses Supplier Known for Innovation |url=https://the-european-times.com/iceblick/ |website=The European Times |date=2020}}

Global neon prices jumped by about 600% after the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, spurring some chip manufacturers to start shifting away from Russian and Ukrainian suppliers{{cite news |title=Chipmakers see limited impact for now, as Russia invades Ukraine |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/chipmakers-see-limited-impact-russia-invasion-ukraine.html |work=CNBC |date=24 February 2022 }} and toward suppliers in China. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine also shut down two companies in Ukraine that produced about half of the global supply: Cryoin Engineering ({{Langx|uk|Кріоін Інжинірінг}}) and Inhaz ({{Langx|uk|ІНГАЗ}}), located in Odesa and Mariupol, respectively.{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Financial |title=Low on gas: Ukraine invasion chokes supply of neon needed for chipmaking |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/03/low-on-gas-ukraine-invasion-chokes-supply-of-neon-needed-for-chipmaking/ |access-date=13 March 2022 |work=Ars Technica |date=4 March 2022 }} The closure was predicted to exacerbate the COVID-19 chip shortage,[https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/ukraine-war-flashes-neon-warning-lights-chips-2022-02-24/ Ukraine war flashes neon warning lights for chips], Reuters, 25 February 2022 which may further shift neon production to China.

{{Main|Neon sign}}

File:FLORIST (neon sign).jpg, florist shop|300x300px]]Two quite different kinds of neon lighting are in common use. Neon glow lamps are generally tiny, with most operating between 100 and 250 volts.{{cite book |last=Baumann |first=Edward |title=Applications of Neon Lamps and Gas Discharge Tubes |date=1966 |publisher=Carlton Press}} They have been widely used as power-on indicators and in circuit-testing equipment, but light-emitting diodes (LEDs) now dominate in those applications. These simple neon devices were the forerunners of plasma displays and plasma television screens.{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Robert L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ilHvFwoAZDMC&pg=PA69 |title=Display interfaces: fundamentals and standards |date=2002 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |isbn=978-0-471-49946-6 |pages=69–71 |quote=Plasma displays are closely related to the simple neon lamp. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629141148/https://books.google.com/books?id=ilHvFwoAZDMC&pg=PA69 |archive-date=29 June 2016 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last=Weber |first=Larry F. |author-link=Larry F. Weber |date=April 2006 |title=History of the plasma display panel |journal=IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=268–278 |bibcode=2006ITPS...34..268W |doi=10.1109/TPS.2006.872440 |s2cid=20290119}} Paid access. Neon signs typically operate at much higher voltages (2–15 kilovolts), and the luminous tubes are commonly meters long.{{cite web |title=ANSI Luminous Tube Footage Chart |url=http://www.allanson.com/wp-content/uploads/Product_PDFs/ANSI_Luminous_footage.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206163356/http://www.allanson.com/wp-content/uploads/Product_PDFs/ANSI_Luminous_footage.pdf |archive-date=6 February 2011 |access-date=10 December 2010 |publisher=American National Standards Institute (ANSI)}} Reproduction of a chart in the catalog of a lighting company in Toronto; the original ANSI specification is not given. The glass tubing is often formed into shapes and letters for signage, as well as architectural and artistic applications.

In neon signs, neon produces an unmistakable bright reddish-orange light when electric current passes through it under low pressure.{{Cite web |last=mlblevins |date=2009-06-24 |title=A Brief Summary of the Important Uses of Neon |url=https://sciencestruck.com/uses-of-neon |access-date=2023-08-10 |website=Science Struck |language=en-US}} Although tube lights with other colors are often called "neon", they use different noble gases or varied colors of fluorescent lighting, for example, argon produces a lavender or blue hue.{{Cite web |last=Nuena |first=Julia |date=2019-09-06 |title=How Do Neon Signs Have Different Colors? |url=https://neonsign.com/how-do-neon-signs-have-different-colors/ |access-date=2023-08-10 |website=NeonSign.com |language=en-US}} As of 2012, there are over one hundred colors available.{{cite journal |last=Thielen |first=Marcus |date=August 2005 |title=Happy Birthday Neon! |url=http://www.signmuseum.net/histories/happybirthdayneon.asp |journal=Signs of the Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303060143/http://www.signmuseum.org/histories/happybirthdayneon.asp |archive-date=2012-03-03}}

Neon is used in vacuum tubes, high-voltage indicators, lightning arresters, wavemeter tubes, television tubes, and helium–neon lasers. Gas mixtures that include high-purity neon are used in lasers for photolithography in semiconductor device fabrication.

Liquefied neon is commercially used as a cryogenic refrigerant in applications not requiring the lower temperature range attainable with the more extreme liquid helium refrigeration.

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{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/010.htm Neon] at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
• [http://www.webelements.com/neon/ WebElements.com – Neon].
• [http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele010.html It's Elemental – Neon]
• [https://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/isoig/period/ne_iig.html USGS Periodic Table – Neon]
• [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/quantum/atspect2.html Atomic Spectrum of Neon]
• [https://www.neonmuseum.org/ Neon Museum, Las Vegas]

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