The Crimson Light of Neon:
The next chapter I read was called "The Crimson Light of Neon" and it was about the noble gases. William Ramsay discovered the first five noble gases in the 1890's. Many people found them boring and useless. Now a days however we exploit these gases for use in lighting throughout the world. In 1894 he discovered Argon by burning Magnesium shavings. In May 1898 he discovered Krypton in the air. He then found neon or novum, a name his son suggested. By using liquid neon he then found xenon. For all his discoveries he was awarded the Noble Prize for Chemistry. In 1902 Georges Claude experimented with electrical discharges and tubes of neon. He was able to create the first Neon lamp. In glowed crimson red through the city smoke and even on sunny days. Neon quickly became the sign of new. However it was replaced with other elemental lamps. Argon shone pale blue, Mercury was white, and a mixture of noble gases created a rainbow of colors! Neon soon lit up the night in a new and exciting way!
 |
| Picture Work Cited: Neon Rainbow, Terry, http://monorex.com/follow-the-rainbow/, Monorex, 2011 |
Jezebel's Eyes:
This Chapter was called "Jezebel's Eyes" and it is about antimony. In the Bible antimony was used in cosmetics as black eye shadow. However, this was not good because antimony was an eye irritant. Antimony is a hazardous element that somehow makes us more beautiful. Many cosmetics companies use various elements in their products supposedly making us look better. Antimony metal also solidifies into a large metallic mass and gleams like a precious stone.
 |
| Picture Work Cited: Antimony, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimony, Wikipedia, 4/22/14 |
That's kind of dumb that people would use an eye irritant as eye shadow but still kind of fascinating.
ReplyDelete