What does oxygen produce green and red light?

Oxygen helps make green and red light when it’s inside a special kind of glass called a fluorescent lamp.

Imagine you're playing with a toy that glows in the dark, like one of those glow-in-the-dark stickers. When you turn on the light, something inside the toy starts to shine. That's what happens with oxygen inside a fluorescent lamp.

How it works

Inside the lamp, there’s a special gas, and oxygen is part of that gas. When electricity goes through the lamp, it gives energy to tiny particles called phosphor. These phosphor particles then glow, some give off green light, others give off red light.

It's like when you shake up a bottle of fizzy drink and it starts to bubble and sparkle, only with light instead of bubbles!

The fun part

If you look closely at the lamp, sometimes you can see both green and red lights mixing together. That’s how we get white or other colors on our walls and screens!

Take the quiz →

Examples

  1. A glowing tube filled with oxygen emits red and green light when electricity passes through it.
  2. When you light a match, the oxygen in the air helps produce bright red and green flames.
  3. Oxygen inside a neon sign lights up in different colors depending on its energy.

Ask a question

See also

Discussion

Recent activity