Neon lights are used widely around the world and create flashy pictures, or advertising brand names. They are used famously in Las Vegas, to light up there many casinos and hotels. Neon lights differ from modern lightbulbs as unlike modern lightbulbs they are formed in thin tubes, which makes them easy to be shaped into letering and artwork. But how do they produce light?

The proccess of this illumination is called ‘Electric Discharge Through Gases’.  In the tubes, is a gas called neon, which when an electircal current is passed through the electrons stream from one end of the tube to the other. When these electrons hit the neon atoms the neons electrons are knocked out of orbit, this impact give the neon extra energy, which they use to return to their orginal state. As they return the extra energy is givien out by a release of electromagnetic energy, which such a frequencie that it lies in the visible light range. Neon gives out a reddy-orange glow, but when other gases are used they produce different frequencies of radiation and therefore different colors. For example Helium produces yellow glow.

As the gas in the tube is free flowing and under a high pressure the tubes can be bent into long curves, and made into intorcet signs and billboards.