Electric sparks tend to appear blue or purple or white in color. Why?
Answer
Air is normally a bad conductor of electricity, but with enough voltage it can be converted to plasma, which is a good conductor. In a plasma, the electrons constantly bind to and leave atoms. Each time an electron binds to an atom, it emits the energy in light. As a result, the plasma glows the color of a photon with that energy. There are a few different energy levels that get involved, so the spectrum has a few different peaks. The final color depends on the gas you use. For example, neon looks red or red-orange. Air ends up looking blue, so electricity passing through air makes it glow blue.
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