Neon

My name is Neon and I am a very unique person. For starters I was born in 1898 which makes me 107 years old. I do not have real parents because I was stranded as a little kid, but the people who found me were men by the name of Sir William Ramsey and Morris M. Travers. All I know about my background I have learned from them. They named me after the Greek word Neos meaning new. Sir Ramsey always says that I just seemed to appear out of liquid air. Mr. Travers also tells me that I am non-metal and from a very prominent, even royal family.

At school I am a very popular person. I do not have any really close friends, but those that know me call me Ne, which is short for Neon. My family, or circle of friends, is called the Noble Gases and my group number is 2. The only real person that I could maybe, possibly from a compound with is Fluorine. Lots of people call me stuck up since I do not even bother touching others, but that is just who I am. I am a fairly petite person; I only have 10 protons/electrons. I have only 10 electrons too, and my atomic weight is 20.179 and my number is 10. I become very mad and start to boil at 27.07K (-246.08oC) and when I get really sad and start melting it tends to happen at 24.56K (-248.59oC), but at room temperature I am a gas. . I am colorless, but in a vacuum I turn reddish orange, and my crystal structure is cubic. I also have three stable isotopes.

I, Neon, am used for many things, but my main job is to light up those neon advertising signs that you see all the time. I also am used in high-voltage indicators, lightning arrestors, wave meter tubes, and you would not be able to watch the Eagles games because I am in your TV tubes. When you make me work with helium you get gas lasers. One other thing I am used in is cryogenic refrigerants, when I am in the liquid form. If you had to put a price on me (although I believe I am priceless) it would probably be about $2.00/l.