Q 01/05
A) 12
B) 8
C) 10
D) 18
Answer · why
Its symbol is Ne, and it is the second noble gas after helium.
Q 02/05
A) Pale green
B) Deep blue
C) Reddish-orange
D) Pure white
Answer · why
Blue 'neon' tubes actually contain argon and mercury, and phosphor coatings supply the rest of the palette.
Q 03/05
A) Lord Rayleigh and Henry Cavendish
B) William Ramsay and Morris Travers
C) Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday
D) Marie and Pierre Curie
Answer · why
They boiled off liquid air gas by gas over six weeks, finding krypton first, then neon, then xenon.
Q 04/05
A) Stranger
B) Bright
C) New
D) Hidden
Answer · why
Krypton means 'hidden' and xenon 'stranger'; the name for neon was suggested by Ramsay's son.
Q 05/05
A) Morris Travers
B) The chemist's young son
C) Dmitri Mendeleev
D) Georges Claude
Answer · why
Travers wrote that 'the blaze of crimson light from the tube told its own story and was a sight to dwell upon and never forget'.
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