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colors in inorganic elements

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Corvettaholic:
I think messing with colors falls under this category  :)

I remember way back when in high school chemistry we had these (forgot name of device) that showed us all the colors in the spectrum a particular element had. Like neon was bright orange and stuff like that. Most elements have more than one color. I think the word I'm looking for is spectronomy or something like that? Anyway, what I'm wondering is how do you get a specific element to give off a specific color so I can see it? Fill a tube with the (gaseous) element and apply high voltage? Does the amount of voltage change the color?

Mitch:
Your setup is accurate. No, voltage won't change the color just the intensity.

Corvettaholic:
Voltage = Intensity, got it. Is it possible to apply too much voltage? What happens then? When the gas starts letting photons go, its still a gas, right? I don't want a plasma to form, because I was also wondering if I can contain the gas in a thick transparent plastic tube. That would keep fabrication costs way down, due to the fact that I don't know how to blow glass.

Now to get the different colors out of a particular gas, would changing the frequency help, or do I have to use DC? I can get my paws on a transformer that'll put out 30kHz, or I could use plain ol 60hz wall outlet voltage.

jdurg:
I don't think you can change the color of the gas without changing the gas.  The color emitted from the gas is characteristic of the electron configuration of the gas.  You simply can't change that.

Corvettaholic:
So a gas will only give out one color, too bad. But whats the deal with all the different colors I see associated with one particular element?

It may be accepted science that the gas will only give off one color, but I think I'll have to test that for own education. I think a 10 stage cockcroft-walton impulse genereator will do the trick, 1 megavolt!

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