Originally posted August 23, 2010

… somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

August 23, 2010

I’m pretty sure the the Boss wasn’t thinking about neon when he wrote those lyrics to Rosalita. But, yesterday, as I was “driving” down the New Jersey Turnpike, I certainly was. You see, on the Jersey Turnpike, they have these helpful neon signs that warn you when traffic is moving slowly. And, since traffic was most definitely moving slowly yesterday, I had plenty of time to think about neon.

The typical view from my trip on the New Jersey Turnpike. Image source.

While I was moving at a reduced speed, I started to think about neon lights in all of their forms. Regular neon lights give off a reddish/orange color. Neon will glow red after you send a heap-ton (technical term roughly corresponding to thousands of volts, as opposed to the 120 volts that come out of standard American electrical outlets) of electricity through it. The electricity takes the electrons in neon from their normally “chill” state into various excited states. When the electrons want to be “chill” again, they have to get rid of some of their energy. They do this by releasing a photon of light. (If I were zapped by 3,000 volts of electricity, I would get right of my excess energy by screaming, “&%%%$!! @#*^%$$$”.) All atoms behave this way. What makes neon so great is that it is unreactive and gaseous (i.e. it will completely fill the entire tube in a lighting display).

Non-red “neon” lights.

What about all of those neon lights that aren’t red? Turns out, those aren’t really neon lights. To get different colors, you have to use different elements (helium, argon, krypton, xenon) or mercury vapor in conjunction with different chemicals phosphors.

But, as you can see from the picture above, New Jersey uses neon for their signs. Its a good thing that neon is one of the most abundant elements in the universe because the traffic on the Turnpike shows no signs of letting up.