What would happen if we replaced 20% of our atmosphere's nitrogen with neon?

I would be like “Whoa!”

Why? Would we humans even notice?

I was making a joke

Jokes are nice. But I’m also looking for a scientific answer.

More spectacular northern lights?

I imagine lightning storms would look amazing.

@rudrapratap – But shouldn’t 50% nitrogen in the air be more than enough?

@mattbrowne, I’m not very scientific minded but I’m wondering if this might be of interest to the conversation. Here.

@bkcunningham – A great article, thanks for sharing this. I wasn’t aware of the diving issues. So neon seems okay for humans.

Nitrogen Narcosis is an interesting effect. It’s somewhat similar to being drunk with some added minor visual hallucinations like enhanced colors, trails, and other slight things like that. Some divers get really loopy from the effects though. While diving a friend of mine keep trying to take his respirator out so he could smile at me :P

@mattbrowne Great question and @bkcunningham great link to an answer. I found this question interesting, and the fact it was so thoroughly answered truly amazing. I wonder what impact neon might have on the plasma light shows of the aurora borealis and australis. Would the neon light up as it does in neon lights. Currently, the upper atmosphere where these light shows occur (from a low end of 50 miles to high of 350 miles above the surface) is still mostly nitrogen but the oxygen as we go up is divided between the oxygen molecules we have at the surface and an asymptotically increasing curve of atomic oxygen, which interacts more readily with the charged particles of the solar wind.

The varied colors if the aurora are due to the nature of the gas particles and atoms interacting with high energy particles streaming into the magnetosphere from the Sun. You can read up on the details here.

@ETpro – Yes, every atom has an individual signature for photon absorption and emission. The exited states of neon are different from oxygen and nitrogen. I wonder what Aurora Borealis would look like in a 20% neon atmosphere.

@mattbrowne So do I, but I don’t have the money to find out.

Fortunately, I can make a guess based on how they perform in fluorescing signs down here on Earth. Neon produces the bright red neon lighting. Other colors are from other gasses that emit photons at other wavelengths. Helium gives yellow, carbon dioxide white and mercury vapor yields blue. By mixing the RGB in an additive color system, you can generate anything in the visible spectrum. Of course, the green requires a mix of helium and mercury vapor.