What makes neon signs glow  A 360° animation - Michael Lipman - video Dailymotion

TED-Ed

In this 360° animation, explore the vibrant world of neon signs and learn the science of what makes them glow.   --  When the Hoover Dam was completed, it created a huge source of hydroelectric power and zapped a sleepy desert town to life: Las Vegas, Nevada. With the power supply from the dam, Las Vegas soon exploded with vibrant displays. The source of these dazzling lights was electrified neon gas. In this special 360° animation, explore the colorful world of neon signs as Lippy shares what makes them glow.  --  How to view this TED-Ed animated 360° video:  If you have access to a Google Cardboard viewer and a smart phone:  1. Open this video in the YouTube app on your phone. 2. Hit pause on the video. 3. Tap the 3 vertical dots on the top right corner of the view window. This will slide up a sub-menu where you will choose the quality setting of your video stream. Choose "2160s." Note that if you are not streaming over Wifi, YouTube will only allow "720s" quality. 4. Tap on the “Cardboard viewer” icon on the bottom row of the video window (it looks like a mask). This will present the video full screen in prep for the Cardboard viewer. 5. The screen is now divided into 2 halves, separated by a thin white line that runs halfway up the screen. Make sure to rotate your phone so that this thin line is coming from the bottom of the screen. This ensures proper stereoscopic depth. 6. Insert your phone into the Cardboard viewer and press play. The video will begin. Enjoy!  If you do not have access to a Cardboard or smart phone:  1. You can watch on your browser. Use your mouse to drag and explore the space above, below, and behind you. Enjoy!  --  Lesson by Lippy, directed by Lippy.

Transcript

00:00Transcription by ESO. Translation by —

00:13When the Hoover Dam was completed in 1936,

00:16it created a huge source of hydroelectric power

00:20and zapped a sleepy desert town to life—

00:23Las Vegas, Nevada.

00:25With the power supply from the dam,

00:27Las Vegas soon exploded with vibrant displays.

00:31The source of these dazzling lights was electrified neon gas.

00:37There are two tricky obstacles to making lighted signs

00:40out of this naturally clear, odorless gas—

00:43capturing it and making it glow.

00:46French inventor Georges Claude came up with techniques to do both.

00:50In 1902, he developed a way of liquefying and separating specific gases from the air,

00:57producing neon on an industrial scale for the first time.

01:01By 1910, he had come up with a way to trap the gas in a glass tube

01:05with a special electrode at either end,

01:08and neon lighting was born.

01:11In workshops like Clothes, artisans known as tube benders

01:16made neon signs by hand.

01:18The tube benders heated small sections of a long hollow glass tube

01:24and quickly bent them into shape.

01:26After the glass cooled, they attached electrodes to each end

01:31and removed the air with a vacuum pump.

01:34Then they passed a high voltage current through the tube

01:38to remove any impurities on the inside of the glass.

01:42Finally, they pumped the neon gas in and sealed off the electrodes.

01:48When a neon sign is turned on,

01:51the electric current causes some of the neon atoms' electrons

01:55to accelerate and break free of their orbits,

01:58leaving behind positively charged ions.

02:01As these free electrons rush from one electrode to the other,

02:05they collide with more neon atoms, causing them to ionize as well.

02:10When these excited electrons fall back to their normal energy levels,

02:15their excess energy is carried away by photons, or particles of light.

02:21All this happens in an instant,

02:23and the glow from the photons is what we see when we switch on a neon sign.

02:28Though it's common to call any gas-filled sign a neon sign,

02:32there are actually five different gases used in production.

02:36Each gas emits photons of a different wavelength when electrified,

02:40which corresponds to different colors of light.

02:42Neon gives off an orange-red glow,

02:45argon glows a pale lavender,

02:47helium a dusty pink,

02:49krypton a silver-white,

02:51and xenon a light purple.

02:54These five gases can be combined with color-coded tubing

02:57to create an electrified rainbow of text and images.

03:04Business owners soon realized how effective these colorful beacons were

03:08for attracting customers.

03:10And unlike a light bulb,

03:12a neon sign has no incandescent filaments to burn out

03:16and can shine continuously for 40 years before the gas depletes.

03:21By the 1930s, neon signs were lighting up storefronts all over the world.

03:26Because of the glass tube's fragile nature,

03:29it usually wasn't feasible to ship them over long distances.

03:33Instead, most neon signs were created by local neon shops

03:37and then installed nearby.

03:39Signs with humor, personality, and intricate designs proliferated,

03:43no two exactly alike.

03:46But by the end of World War II,

03:48plastics had become widely available and inexpensive,

03:52and plastic signs supplanted neon as messengers of modernity.

03:56Many towns removed neon signs they viewed as old-fashioned.

04:00Today, neon sign production is only a fraction of what it was at its peak.

04:05But the craft of tube bending lives on relatively unchanged.

04:17New creations handcrafted by local artisans join survivors from the heyday of neon,

04:23hiding in plain sight in city streets around the world.

04:35to live in calming area and tries.

04:37In this city, it's been delayed

What makes neon signs glow A 360° animation - Michael Lipman

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