The noble gas discovered in 1898 whose name comes from the Greek word for “new” is neon. British chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers discovered it in London while separating the components of liquefied air. After removing more abundant gases, they examined the remaining gases by fractional distillation and spectroscopy.
When an electrical discharge passed through the newly isolated gas, it produced an intense red-orange glow. Ramsay’s son suggested the name neon, based on the Greek neos, meaning “new.” Neon has the symbol Ne and atomic number 10, and it is the second noble gas in the periodic table after helium.
Neon is chemically very unreactive because its outer electron shell is complete. It is scarce in Earth’s atmosphere, at roughly 18 parts per million by volume, but it is relatively abundant in the universe. The familiar term “neon sign” can be misleading: many colorful illuminated tubes use other gases or phosphors, while pure neon characteristically glows reddish-orange.
Ramsay and Travers also discovered krypton and xenon in 1898. Their work helped establish the noble gases as a distinct group in the periodic table.