How Neon Signs are Made: A Look at Neon Signs

Neon is a chemical element which is a very common element in the universe, but is rare on Earth. It’s a colorless, inert noble gas that gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in either low-voltage neon glow lamps, in high-voltage discharge tubes or in neon signs.

Inert gases tend to keep their molecular structure; however, with neon and other inert gases, they remain inert only in chemical reactions – but not in the glass tubes with electrodes like inside neon signs. This is because the electrodes in neon signs discharge voltage through the gas in the discharge tube. The voltage that goes through the gas will speed up any free electrons, which in turn build the kinetic energy up inside the tube. When the kinetic energy is high enough, the neon atom becomes ionized.

During ionization, an electron either moves up the next electron orbit, or down to the next electron orbit. What ionization is doing is giving an inert gas a negative or positive charge. This creates plasma that carries the electrical impulse from one end of the tube to the opposite end. This completes the electrical circuit.

When the circuit is completed, the electrons that were “excited” fall back to their regular energy level, causing a photon to be emitted which creates that pretty glow. A photon is a light wave and as long as the photon is within our visible light spectrum we are able to view it.