Neon signs look cool as hell, there’s no denying. Ain’t nothing more retro than a glowing tube in the shape of a cocktail, but how do neon lights work?
Neon light first started being incorporated into signs back in 1912 when French engineer Georges Claude and associate Jacques Fonseque sold the world’s first neon sign to the Palais Coiffeur barbershop in Paris. Since then, they’ve been rolled out across the globe and in all sorts of designs and sizes. Their allure has endured, but how many of us really know what’s happening in those clever tubes?
How do neon lights work?
You wouldn’t know neon gas for looking at it. Known to the periodic table as Ne, it lacks color or smell. Pop that gas in a tube and excite it with electricity, however, and it’s a very different story.
As the electricity flows through the glass tube of a neon light, it energizes the gas’s electrons causing them to speed up and break free of their orbits, jettisoning positively charged ions. These free electrons then whizz around bumping into more neon atoms, making them ionize too. The excess energy is carried away by particles of light known as photons, which is the glow we see, and it all happens in the blink of an eye.
The shape of a neon light all comes down to how the glass is blown and bent, and as for color, that can depend. Neon itself glows red, but sometimes it appears differently when the glass it’s housed in is tinted. Alternatively, other gases can be used to make glowing lights. As Christoph Ribbat wrote in Flickering Light: A History Of Neon, argon glows violet, helium glows pink, and xenon blue, but often the term “neon light” is used to refer to any glowing sign, not just those with neon gas in them.
How do you make a neon sign glow?
Once you’ve got your glass-blown design, the first step is to remove most of the air from the tube and blast it with a high voltage to get rid of any impurities. You then suck all the air out to create a vacuum and fill it with your gas of choice. Then apply that voltage, sit back, and bask in the glow.
How long do neon lights last?
As David Ablon of Brooklyn Glass put it best when speaking to Eater: “Restaurant owners ask a lot like, ‘How long is my neon sign going to last?’ And I try to politely answer, ‘longer than your restaurant’.”
According to a review on neon lights back in 1991, in their ideal condition, they can last for 30 to 40 years, but most online retailers today suggest between 10 and 15 years.
So, I guess it’s how much faith you have in that restaurant.
