What can colors can neon be?

Answer 1

The word "Neon" describes a gas, a series of colours (neon pink, neon green) and gas-discharge tubing used in signs and various lighting applications.

To answer your question:

- Neon gas is invisible, clear and odourless - it is an inert, noble gas.

- Neon colours of clothing or paints can be pink, orange, red, yellow, green and sometimes blue or purple but it's not very effective.

- Neon tubing used in signage is a basic glass tube that has been bent into the desired shape, it is filled with gas, sealed and a high-voltage (2,000v-12,000v) is sent through it to create an arc, producing the light that follows the shape. Although "neon", when referring to this lighting type, has become the name of the product rather than the gas used, probably because neon was used when it was invented.

The truth is, neon is only used in a few colours, red, orange and sometimes pink. The rest of the colours like yellow, blue, green, white and purple are achieved using Argon gas and a tiny bit of Mercury to help improve the brightness, similar to fluorescent tubes which work almost the same way. The glass tubing has a phosphor paint (coating) on the inside of the tube that reacts (excited) by the gas and the electric arc, creating the light that results from "fluorescence". (There are less common methods to make different colours, such as combining gasses, altering or eliminating the phosphor or mercury content.)

So when you see gas-discharge tubing, depending on the colour, you can call it "Neon Lighting" or "Argon Lighting".

Hope that helps!

~Dave