I have been wondering why gases (especially noble gases) light up when exposed to a tesla coil or a charge.
In: Chemistry
Visualize an atom’s electron as a ball. When you expose the atom to an electric current, that’s like picking up the ball and placing on the side of a ramp. The ball immediately starts rolling back down to where it was. In real life when electrons “fall back down” like this they give off light radiation. Think of it like a pie absorbing heat in your oven, and then releasing the heat when you remove it. Electricity energy goes in, light energy comes out in the gases example.
The color of the light radiation is unique to the atom, that’s why different gases give off different color lights. You might call all glowy tube lights “neon lights”, but really neon lights are only the orange ones. Different gases would give you different colors.
It’s also a special thing when the gas gives off light *we can see*. The gases in fluorescent light bulb tubes don’t produce visible white light. So in those you have electricity lifting the electrons of the gases, which gives off invisible radiation, the invisible radiation is absorbed by the white powder on the glass which absorbs it, which lifts the *powder’s electrons* which fall back down and *those electrons* give off visible white light.
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