盖斯勒管1857

A Geissler tube is a precursor to modern gas discharge tubes, demonstrating the principles of electrical glow discharge, akin to contemporary neon lights, and central to the discovery of the electron. This device was developed in 1857 by Heinrich Geissler, a German physicist and glassblower. A Geissler tube is composed of a sealed glass cylinder of various shapes, which is partially evacuated and equipped with a metal electrode at each end. It contains rarefied gases—such as neon or argon, air, mercury vapor, or other conductive substances, and sometimes ionizable minerals or metals like sodium. When a high voltage is applied between the electrodes, there is an electric current through the tube, causing gas molecules to ionize by shedding electrons. The free electrons reunite with the ions and the resulting energic atoms emit light, with the emitted color characteristic of the gas.