64 Kansas Academy of Science. 



NEON AND ARGON IN NATURAL GAS. 



By Hamilton P. Cadt and David F. McFarland, University of Kansas, Lawrence. 



AT THE last meeting of the Academy we reported the pres- 

 ence of helium in natural gas. Since that time we have 

 found argon in the Dexter gas and neon in that furnished the 

 University by the Kansas Natural Gas' Company. 



It is not easy to detect neon in the presence of helium when 

 working with small quantities of gas such as we used in the 

 analyses previously reported, but during the preparation of 

 considerable quantities of helium the neon showed its presence 

 unmistakably. 



The method for the isolation of these gases is briefly as 

 follows: The natural gas is largely condensed in a bulb sur- 

 rounded with liquid air. The uncondensed portion is then 

 passed into bulbs filled with cocoanut charcoal and cooled with 

 liquid air. Here all the gases except hydrogen, neon and 

 helium are completely absorbed. Of these three gases hydro- 

 gen is rather freely absorbed, neon somewhat, and helium 

 scarcely at all. In working with small quantities of gas the 

 neon is very largely taken up by the charcoal, while with 

 larger amounts the latter finally becomes saturated and then 

 the lines of neon are plainly visible in the spectrum of the gas. 

 The difference in the absorption of helium and of neon in 

 cocoanut charcoal is great enough so that neon spectroscopi- 

 cally free from helium may be prepared as follows: A char- 

 coal bulb is heated to about 400 degrees and exhausted as 

 completely as possible. It is then cooled with liquid air and the 

 unabsorbed gases from another charcoal bulb are passed in, 

 allowed to stand for a time, and removed with a mercury 

 pump. After a sufficient amount has been passed through the 

 bulb, the helium is removed by pumping until a cathode-ray 

 vacuum is obtained. The bulb is then warmed slightly and 

 some gas removed; after this, by warming the bulb more 

 strongly, neon spectroscopically free from helium is obtained. 



The identity of the neon was established by measuring the 

 wave-lengths of the lines in the spectrum and comparing them 

 with those given by Baly (Phil. Trans. 1904, vol. 202, p. 183). 

 Baly photographed something over a hundred lines in the 

 visible portion of the spectrum. About half of these lines are 



