What makes neon signs glow? A 360° animation - Michael Lipman

翻译人员: Rich Lee 校对人员: Jiasi Hao

When the Hoover Dam was completed in 1936,

当胡佛水电站于 1936 年建成后，

it created a huge source of hydroelectric power

它成为了水力发电的巨大源头

and zapped a sleepy desert town to life: Las Vegas, Nevada.

并使一座寂静的沙漠小镇恢复了生机： 内达华州的拉斯维加斯。

With the power supply from the dam,

拥有了来自水坝的电力供应后，

Las Vegas soon exploded with vibrant displays.

色彩鲜艳的广告牌很快 在拉斯维加斯涌现。

The source of these dazzling lights was electrified neon gas.

这些耀眼的灯光来源于带电的氖气。

There are two tricky obstacles to making lighted signs

用这种无色无味的天然气体 来制作灯光标志，

out of this naturally clear, odorless gas:

会面临两个棘手的障碍：

capturing it and making it glow.

那就是获取，以及使它发光。

French inventor Georges Claude came up with techniques to do both.

法国发明家乔治 · 克劳德（Georges Claude） 想出了能解决那两个问题的技术。

In 1902,

在 1902 年，他研发出了

he developed a way of liquefying and separating specific gases from the air,

一种能从空气中液化 并分离特定气体的方法，

producing neon on an industrial scale for the first time.

第一次以工业规模生产氖气。

By 1910, he had come up with a way to trap the gas in a glass tube

1910 年，他想出了一种方法： 将气体充满玻璃管，

with a special electrode at either end, and neon lighting was born.

并一种特殊的电极接在玻璃管两端， 霓虹灯就这样诞生了。

In workshops like Claude's,

在像克劳德这样的工作间中，

artisans known as tube-benders made neon signs by hand.

是由被称为弯管匠的手工艺人 来制作霓虹灯广告牌。

The tube-benders heated small sections of a long, hollow glass tube

弯管匠加热长而中空的 玻璃管的一小部分

and quickly bent them into shape.

然后快速将它们塑形。

After the glass cooled, they attached electrodes to each end

玻璃管冷却后， 他们会将电极固定在两端

and removed the air with a vacuum pump.

然后用真空泵抽除气体。

Then, they passed a high voltage current through the tube

接着，他们让高压电流通过管子

to remove any impurities on the inside of the glass.

以除去玻璃内部的杂质。

Finally, they pumped the neon gas in and sealed off the electrodes.

最后，他们将氖气注入 并将电极封住。

When a neon sign is turned on,

当霓虹灯广告牌被打开，

the electric current causes some of the neon atoms' electrons to accelerate

电流使一些氖原子的电子 加速并脱离轨道，

and break free of their orbits, leaving behind positively charged ions.

留下大量带正电荷的离子。

As these free electrons rush from one electrode to the other,

当这些自由电子 从电极的一端涌向另一端，

they collide with more neon atoms, causing them to ionize as well.

它们会与更多的氖原子碰撞， 并使自身也离子化。

When these excited electrons fall back to their normal energy levels,

当这些激发态的电子 回到它们的正常能级时，

their excess energy is carried away by photons, or particles of light.

它们多余的能量 会被光子或光粒子带走。

All this happens in an instant,

这些全部发生在一瞬间，

and the glow from the photons is what we see when we switch on a neon sign.

光子所发出的光 便是我们看到的开启的霓虹灯广告牌。

Though it's common to call any gas-filled sign a "neon" sign,

我们通常把充满气体的灯 统称为“霓虹灯”，

there are actually 5 different gases used in production.

但事实上， 有五种不同的气体用于填充。

Each gas emits photons of a different wavelength when electrified,

每种气体在带电时 会发射不同波长的光子，

which correspond to different colors of light.

这些光子对应着不同的颜色。

Neon gives off an orange-red glow, argon glows a pale lavender,

氖气发出橙红色的光， 氩气发出淡紫色的光，

helium a dusty pink, krypton a silver- white, and xenon a light purple.

氦气是浅灰粉色，氪气是银白色， 氙气是亮紫色。

These 5 gases can be combined with color-coated tubing

这五种气体可以和彩色涂层管结合

创造出由文字和图像组成的彩虹。

to create an electrified rainbow of text and images.

Business owners soon realized how effective these colorful beacons

商人们很快意识到 这些五彩斑斓的灯标

were for attracting customers.

能够非常有效地吸引顾客。

And unlike a light bulb, a neon sign has no incandescent filaments to burn out,

不像电灯泡， 霓虹灯广告牌不需要燃烧白炽灯丝，

and can shine continuously for 40 years before the gas depletes.

并且能在气体耗尽前持续工作 40 年。

By the 1930s, neon signs were lighting up storefronts all over the world.

到了 20 世纪 30 年代， 霓虹灯广告牌在世界各地的店铺亮起。

Because of the glass tubes' fragile nature,

因为玻璃管易碎的性质，

it usually wasn't feasible to ship them over long distances.

长距离的运输 对于霓虹灯来说通常是不可行的。

Instead, most neon signs were created by local neon shops

所以大多数霓虹灯广告牌 是由当地的霓虹灯商店制造

and then installed nearby.

并在附近安装。

Signs with humor, personality, and intricate designs proliferated,

幽默、个性和复杂的 广告牌设计不断涌现，

no two exactly alike.

没有两个一模一样的。

But by the end of World War II,

但是到第二次世界大战的尾声时，

plastics had become widely available and inexpensive,

塑料普遍变得可用且便宜，

and plastic signs supplanted neon as messengers of modernity.

塑料广告牌作为现代化的信使 取代了霓虹灯广告牌。

Many towns removed neon signs they viewed as old-fashioned.

很多城镇移除了 在他们看来已经过时的霓虹灯广告牌。

Today, neon sign production is only a fraction of what it was at its peak,

如今，霓虹灯广告牌的生产 仅是之前高峰时期的零头，

but the craft of tube bending lives on relatively unchanged.

但弯管的手艺， 相对而言依然如故地继续存在着。

New creations hand-crafted by local artisans

当地工匠手工制作的创新产品

join survivors from the heyday of neon,

加入了霓虹灯全盛时期的 幸存广告牌中，

hiding in plain sight in city streets around the world.

躲藏在世界各地城市街道 平淡无奇的地方。