![]() In 1894, a third element was discovered in air: argon. That "something else" accounted for the remaining one percent that is not nitrogen or oxygen. They recognized that something else was in air besides nitrogen and oxygen. Between them, nitrogen and oxygen make up more than 99 percent of air.īut over time, chemists became more skilled at making measurements. For some time, chemists were convinced that these two gases were the only ones present in air. In that decade, two new elements were discovered in air: nitrogen and oxygen. The first research to disprove that idea was done in the 1770s. Among the ancient Greeks, for example, the four bask elements were air, fire, water, and earth. At one time, philosophers thought air was an element. It took humans centuries to understand air. The color given off by neon itself is reddish-orange. The gas contained in the sign tube determines the color of light given off. Neon signs are often filled with neon gas, but they may also contain other gases as well. Today, neon signs of every color, shape, and size exist. It occurs naturally in the atmosphere, but only in very small amounts. Neon was discovered in 1898 by British chemists William Ramsay (1852-1916) and Morris Travers (1872-1961). Chemists have yet to prepare compounds of helium, neon, or argon. In fact, compounds exist for only three noble gases -krypton, radon, and xenon. This name comes from the fact that these elements do not react very readily. The noble gases are sometimes called the inert gases. The periodic table is a chart that shows how chemical elements are related to each other. These gases are in Group 18 (VIIIA) of the periodic table. Other elements in this family includes helium, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. Neon is a member of the noble gas family. ![]() Note: This article, originally published in 1998, was updated in 2006 for the eBook edition.
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