Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-10-19

the easiest way 20 understand the Aurora IS
TO learn what makes these lights tick.
In the tubes Of the neon signs is gas or
yapor. The red signs contain neon gas but
the name neon sign is applied pretty gem
orally 10 all kinds of gaseous signs. To yield
the other colors mercury vapor, helium argon,
nitrogen, oxygen or hydrogen are used, de-
pending the hue desired.
The glow Of the signs comes from the
constant bombardment Of these gases by
swarms Of electrons which are emitted from
a hot fire filament at one end of the sign.
Electrons are the elemental particles OF cleo
trcity. In the advertising signs these cleo
irons are given an electrical kick" Of 10000
volts as they are sprayed off the hot wire
Bearing an electric charge the electrons
rush down the tube under pressure Of this
10 900 volt kick" but soon they go bump and
crash into an atom of neon, or heum or
whatever gas may fill the tube
Just as a lot of excited people viii climb
a tree II they see bear charging at them, so
90 the neon atoms become excited" when an
ecctron strikes them.
In their excited" states the electrons OF
the gaseous atoms. figuratively climb trees
also for they get all disturbed and enter into
higher energy levels" as scientists call them.
There is no need TO get tangled up in a
lot of complex atomic physics over this point
where the people Cthe outer electrons OF the
atom rush upstairs if a bear comes in the
front door
Naturally the bear viii soon go away and
then the people the atoms electrons, re-
member are going 10 come back down stairs
and the house returns 10 normal.
only this house tsay neon atom il
very special kind Of house for as the people
come back down stairs they liberate energy
that appears as a ray Of light OF a specific
color An excited neon atom comes back 10
normal by giving off light Of a reddish hue
and that is why neon advertising signs glow
red sign with nitrogen in it will glow
green one with mercury vapor blue-green.
Argon VIII yield pink color and so on.
And it is now believed that bombardment
of atoms inside a neon stgn has q close parallel
with happenings occurring 80 To 20 miles up
u The atmosphere where the rarifed gases
produce the glow Of the Northern Lights.
See how close the parallel is
L. Neon signs contain gas at low pressure
IA. The upper atmosphere contains gases
at the same low pressure.
Neon signs contain swift-fying cleo
irons which crash into the gas atoms and
make them glow
pa The upper air contains high-speed
electrons, too. They are believed 20 be
emitted by the sun some 100000 miles
away and they speed across empty inter-
planetary space TO the earth in about 80 hours.
The impact Of these solar electrons against
atoms IN the upper air makes them glow and
shine In the Northern Lights
All this is no mere conjecture no mere
brain child of some imaginative scientist
Northern Lights are found to follow closely
the upheavals on the suns surfaces. These
solar outbursts are flaming tongues OF burn
ing hydrogen that are the sun spots.
Very probably although 1t has not been
untangled eXactly-sun spots and solar activ-
ity influence the worlds weather
Certainly sun spot activity is closely linked
with electrical and magnetic storms which
disrupt long distance radio and wire COM
munications ON Thursday. September 18th
ty American weekly Inc Great Britain Rights Res