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danthedarkness t1_izajelx wrote

Reply to comment by N-Memphis-ExPat in Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science by AutoModerator

The blue comes from the gases in the environment. For lightning and other common sparks, it almost certainly happens in air. The combination of nitrogen and oxygen gives you the blue purple tint. BUT you can see a great example of different colored ‘sparks’ in neon lights! They fill the glass tubes with different gases to get different colors!

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Yaver_Mbizi t1_izaz732 wrote

>neon lights

> different gases

Well... Can't be that different if they're all just neon, can they?..)

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danthedarkness t1_izb1uq3 wrote

So that has been a misnomer for a while now. They used to use neon, which gives off the orange color but has since use other gases to produce the myriad of colors you see.

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