Helium

Helium is a colorless noble gas, and is the second lightest element. It is generally very common in the universe, because of nuclear fission of Hydrogen in stars results in it.

Helium's atomic symbol is He, atomic number is 2, and most common isotope is He-4 having 2 neutrons, but He-3 does exist as a decay product of H-3 (Heavy Hydrogen, "Tritium"). It is found right after Hydrogen and before Lithium in the periodic table, and is very very light. It is also a noble gas, so is very non-reactive and forms almost no compounds.

Helium is very well known for being lighter than air, and is quite commonly found in stores to fill balloons with. You can even purchase your own small tank for parties and such. Being a noble gas, it is very nonreactive, and if released into the air it will simply float away to the outermost levels of earth's atmosphere, then just sit there without reacting to anything.

Commercially, Helium is gotten by super-chilling air until the different gases liquify out, once most of the more common gases like nitrogen, oxygen, etc. are gone, most of what remains are various noble gases, including Helium.

Helium doesn't have many scientific uses because it is inert and no chemicals will bond with it, but because it is inert, it can be used to protect reactive metals from the oxygen in the air.

One interesting aspect is that since it is so much lighter than air, sound waves travel very fast through it, and as a result sound higher pitched. This effect can be seen if you fill your lungs with helium, then try to talk, it will result in a higher and probably hilarious voice (However breathing any gas can be hazardous, even inert gases, because you might not get enough Oxygen. Don't breath to much helium without taking some comfortable breaths of air in between)

My Helium ampoules (sealed glass tubes, see above) are self-made and not very high quality, but good enough for me. I made them by sealing one end of a glass tube, filling it with water, then, while submerged in water, bubbling helium up into it, then melting the tube shut just above the water. The water is to keep air out, but as a consequence the final product probably is around 5% water vapor, making it impure. Once again, close enough for my purposes. I made two from a helium balloon I commandeered(stole) from a political campaign booth at a fair.

This is all I have to say about Helium for now, tell me if I've left anything out.

Thanks,

~Ben

Xenon

Xenon (zee-non) is a very rare Noble Gas, and is most well known for the fact that it discharges very bright clean white light. Because of this it is most commonly used in strobe lights or flash bulbs.

Xenon's atomic name is Xe (Which is a reason I really like it, it has one of the most awesome names) atomic number is 54, and most common isotope is Xe-132 with 78 neutrons, however every isotope from Xe-124 to Xe-136 (With the exclusion of isotope 125, 127, 133, 135 which are synthetic and short-lived) is found naturally.

Being a noble gas there are almost no naturally occurring compounds, and is most commonly obtained from air, which contains a minute percentage of it. It is very unusual, an interesting fact is that on average there's less Xenon in air than there is Gold in sea water.

It is quite heavy for a gas, a balloon filled with Xenon will fall to the ground faster than a solid low-density styrofoam ball.

As mentioned above, it's most common uses are in strobe lamps, which are gas-discharge lights similar to Neon signs. Similar to Neon displaying a red color, Xenon displays a bright pure white, so is used in camera flashes or for high-power projector or spot light bulbs. All of my samples are in the form of lamps mentioned above.

These are my samples, all are (loosely speaking) light bulbs.

Top right sample: This is the Xenon flash bulb from your typical camera flash, easily found in disposable cameras for about $6. Normally I wouldn't take it off of the circuit board, because the circuit board can be used to light it up, but in this case it was from and older camera flash that no longer worked.

Bottom sample: This is a much larger flash bulb, probably used in a strobe light. I was very lucky to pick up 3 of these basically for free at a special flea market in Boston. They are basically exactly the same as the smaller one, just a different shape. You might also notice the third wire in the middle, this is a "trigger" wire, because it is very hard to get and arc to start in the Xenon, a high voltage (but low amps) charge is applied to the middle and one of the edges, this "starts" the arc, which than continues from a larger more powerful capacitor(This all happens in a fraction of a second) They make some bulbs even larger than these for airport lights and such.

Top left sample: This is a very rare lamp, given to me by my dad. It is in fact a projector bulb filled with Xenon, and it is unusual because it does not "flash", it actually stays lit up, which is difficult because the Xenon tends to get very hot quite fast. I am very lucky to have one of these, most are used by movie theaters and are returned to the company that makes them for "repairs". Quite difficult to get your hands on, and expensive to get new. This one may not work, I have no power supply to test it.

This concludes my post on Xenon, my favorite noble gas. Thanks for reading!

~Ben

Neon

Neon is a colorless, odorless gas that is very well known for it's bright orange luminescence. All of my samples are in unusual light bulbs.

Neon is a Noble Gas that's atomic symbol is Ne, and atomic number is 10. It's most common Isotope is Neon-20 (abbreviated Ne20), which has 10 Protons and 10 Neutrons, however there are small percentages of Ne21 and Ne22. The electron configuration of the Neon atom is simply 2, 8.

Being a Noble Gas, Neon is very non-reactive, due to the fact that all of the Noble Gases have a "comfortable" number of electrons, and almost never require any or have any extra. This makes there not many uses for Neon, because there are no natural compounds, Neon only ever occurs in it's pure form. Some scientists have managed to make very basic compounds with other Noble Gases, but not for Neon.

The most well known, and I believe most common use for Neon gas is in lighting, as low-pressure Neon will glow bright orange when high voltage is applied. You've probably seen Neon signs, although not all Neon signs have Neon gas, only a redish-orange color (Which you might've noticed is one of the most common colors in Neon signs) Neon signs consist of long tubes full of low-pressure Neon, with an electrode(Metal bar connected to a wire that goes through the glass) at either end. When high voltage is applied to the electrodes, electrons arc through the Neon gas from one electrode to the other, which Ionizes the Neon atoms causing them to release light.

This "Arc" is similar to a spark you might get from scuffing on carpet with socks on, but since the Neon is under a vacuum (very low pressure), the arc gets more "fuzzy" and not such a sharp streak of light as seen in normal air, which makes it a more pleasing light source. The vacuum also lowers the voltage required to make the Neon ionize.

Neon is not the only gas that lights up like this, almost any gas under a vacuum will light up similar to Neon. Normal air under a vacuum (Which is 78% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen, and small percentages of others) will light up a blue-purple color, but Neon is much brighter, which is why it's more commonly used.

An interesting note about Neon, and most of the Noble Gases, is that since they do not form compounds, they are most commonly found in very small percentages in normal Air. The process to purify Neon from the air is to cool the air down so cold, that the gases in it start to turn to liquids(Every element will go from solid to liquid to gas as you heat it up, since Neon is naturally a gas, cooling it puts it back to liquid stage, similar to cooling steam to get water). Since every gas turns to liquid at a different temperature, they simply cool it down slowly, and sort out the different gases as they liquify. This process can yield Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide, Neon, Argon, and a number of other gases, in very pure form.

Here are some Neon bulbs I managed to photograph:

This is an old bulb manufactured by General Electric, it is the same shape and size as a regular light bulb and even screws into a regular socket, but instead of a thin Tungsten filament, it has two Electrodes (The two half circles) and is filled with low pressure Neon. The high voltage from normal house wiring is enough to make it arc through the Neon, causing the familiar orange glow like in Neon signs. These bulbs are quite rare today, and I'm lucky to have access to them.

This is a small Neon "indicator" bulb, it's barely 1/4 inch in diameter. It's called an indicator bulb because it was used in houses to indicate things in the dark, and it's Neon because there was too high voltage for normal light bulbs. Illuminated light switches very commonly have a bulb exactly like these in them, you can tell if it's Neon if it's orange (Like below) and if it seems to flicker slightly.

It's not turned on as you can see, but you can clearly see the two electrodes inside the bulb. They are not touching, because when the light is turned on, electrons must arc through Neon gas (contained in the bulb) to complete the circuit, and this arc causes the Neon to light up. See below for it turned on!

These two bulbs are indicator bulbs like above, and are also very small, about the size of a bulb from those strings of Christmas lights. Only the orange one is Neon, and you can see, it has the same kind of electrodes inside as above. The glass bulb is once again filled with low pressure Neon gas. Since DC (Direct current) electricity is being used, only one of the electrodes lights up.

The blue bulb is actually very similar inside, but it has a different gas mixture which creates Ultraviolet light, which is invisible to the human eye. In order for it to glow visibly, the inside of the glass bulb is coated with special compounds, that turn Ultraviolet light into normal visible light, called "phosphors" (Not to be confused with the element "Phosphorous"). This coating is why the bulb appears opaque, not clear like the Neon one. These phosphors are used because the bulb can be made to glow almost any color, unlike Neon, which is always orange. I've seen green, blue, white, and yellow with phosphors though.

This concludes my post on Neon, thanks for reading!

~Ben

P.S. If you enjoy this blog and want to help me make it better, the best thing you can do is tell your friends and family about it, or donate a few dollars towards my sample budget!