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A flicker light bulb, flicker flame light bulb or flicker glow lamp is a gas-discharge lamp which produces light by ionizing a gas, usually neon mixed with helium and a small amount of nitrogen gas, by an electric current passing through two flame shaped electrode screens coated with partially decomposed barium azide. The ionized gas moves ...
The inertness of noble gases makes them useful whenever chemical reactions are unwanted. For example, argon is used as a shielding gas in welding and as a filler gas in incandescent light bulbs. Helium is used to provide buoyancy in blimps and balloons. Helium and neon are also used as refrigerants due to their low boiling points.
Different gases will have different mean free paths for molecules and electrons. This is because different molecules have ionization cross sections, that is, different effective diameters. Noble gases like helium and argon are monatomic, which makes them harder to ionize and tend to have smaller effective diameters. This gives them greater mean ...
Helium provides about as short deionization time as hydrogen, but can withstand lower voltage, so it is used much less often. [5] Neon has low ignition voltage and is frequently used in low-voltage tubes. Discharge in neon emits relatively bright red light; neon-filled switching tubes therefore also act as indicators, shining red when switched on.
Neon lights were named for neon, a noble gas which gives off a popular orange light, but other gases and chemicals called phosphors are used to produce other colors, such as hydrogen (purple-red), helium (yellow or pink), carbon dioxide (white), and mercury (blue). Neon tubes can be fabricated in curving artistic shapes, to form letters or ...
A General Electric NE-34 glow lamp, manufactured circa 1930. Neon was discovered in 1898 by William Ramsay and Morris Travers.The characteristic, brilliant red color that is emitted by gaseous neon when excited electrically was noted immediately; Travers later wrote, "the blaze of crimson light from the tube told its own story and was a sight to dwell upon and never forget."
Neon's notable applications include its use in low-voltage neon glow lamps, high-voltage discharge tubes, and neon advertising signs, where it emits a distinct reddish-orange glow. [15] [16] This same red emission line is responsible for the characteristic red light of helium–neon lasers. Although neon has some applications in plasma tubes ...
A very common Penning mixture of about 98–99.5% of neon with 0.5–2% argon is used in some neon lamps, especially those rated for 120 volts. The mixture is easier to ionize than either neon or argon alone, and lowers the breakdown voltage at which the tube becomes conductive and starts producing light.