They don’t react to anything (as in other elements) and they don’t allow things to burn up (fast). Oxygen makes things go bad, noble gases don’t. They also have a lot of electrons, so when you run electricity through them they get excited and let off the excess energy that you see as light.
A lot of non noble gas vapors give off light. Like carbon dioxide or mercury.
These all are governed by the spectral lines given off by the atoms being excited by the electricity ionizing them for the different colors.
A fluorescent light specifically uses a 2 stage light process.
The first stage is the gas in the tube being ionized. It emits strong UV light.
Then there are phosphors coating the tube. These get excited by UV and fluoresce and re-emit light that is a different wavelength than the one they take in. Usually this is a bright blue white light.
The combination of these two steps used to be quite economical from a total wattage to lumen basis. LEDs get better and better though.
Noble gasses are non-reactive, which means that they protect the electrical components from burning or corroding in some fluorescent lights; as well as helping with the ionization process that produces light in the first place.
typical incandescent bulbs are also filled with argon/nitrogen to allow for the very thin filament to heat up to the point of producing light, all without burning or corroding the teeny tiny wire. in regular atmosphere, it would burn out near-instantly.
The most common form of gas in fluorescent lights is mercury, where the discharge releases UV light that energizes the phosphors creating fluorescence.
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Another common form of gas-discharge lamp is sodium, used in streetlights for its strong yellow/amber light.
Gas-discharge lamps used in signage, the stereotypical “neon lamps” use a variety of gases such as neon, argon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc. to achieve their desired colors in each tube.
And then there is xenon-arc lamps that are used in things like car headlights and film projectors because of its broad, almost complete white emission spectrum.
Do you mean halogen lights? Because most fluorescent lights actually use mercury gas to create the UV light that the phosphes then convert to visible light.
Halogen lights use a noble gas that won’t interact (well less interact) with the filament. Mea ing you can run more current and get the filament hotter and brighter for a given size.
Comments
They don’t react to anything (as in other elements) and they don’t allow things to burn up (fast). Oxygen makes things go bad, noble gases don’t. They also have a lot of electrons, so when you run electricity through them they get excited and let off the excess energy that you see as light.
A lot of non noble gas vapors give off light. Like carbon dioxide or mercury.
These all are governed by the spectral lines given off by the atoms being excited by the electricity ionizing them for the different colors.
A fluorescent light specifically uses a 2 stage light process.
The first stage is the gas in the tube being ionized. It emits strong UV light.
Then there are phosphors coating the tube. These get excited by UV and fluoresce and re-emit light that is a different wavelength than the one they take in. Usually this is a bright blue white light.
The combination of these two steps used to be quite economical from a total wattage to lumen basis. LEDs get better and better though.
Noble gasses are non-reactive, which means that they protect the electrical components from burning or corroding in some fluorescent lights; as well as helping with the ionization process that produces light in the first place.
typical incandescent bulbs are also filled with argon/nitrogen to allow for the very thin filament to heat up to the point of producing light, all without burning or corroding the teeny tiny wire. in regular atmosphere, it would burn out near-instantly.
The most common form of gas in fluorescent lights is mercury, where the discharge releases UV light that energizes the phosphors creating fluorescence.
—
Another common form of gas-discharge lamp is sodium, used in streetlights for its strong yellow/amber light.
Gas-discharge lamps used in signage, the stereotypical “neon lamps” use a variety of gases such as neon, argon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc. to achieve their desired colors in each tube.
And then there is xenon-arc lamps that are used in things like car headlights and film projectors because of its broad, almost complete white emission spectrum.
Noble gasses don’t react with things, which is the main benefit.
Also, the specific elements you use dictates the color of the light depending on how far apart the electron orbitals are
That’s why we often use mercury vapor in addition to the noble gasses (mostly argon) to fill in some of the gaps help broaden out the color.
Do you mean halogen lights? Because most fluorescent lights actually use mercury gas to create the UV light that the phosphes then convert to visible light.
Halogen lights use a noble gas that won’t interact (well less interact) with the filament. Mea ing you can run more current and get the filament hotter and brighter for a given size.