So hypothetically, if one was to buy krypton and wanted to make it glow, would a little tesla coil be enough to make it glow? If not, what would be enough? And would one be able to make it glow multiple times or just once, like will making it glow wear down the electrons in the noble gas or somethin’?
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Great question! I don't believe it'll wear out in the short term. Light is produced when the electron is excited to a higher orbital and drops back down; this is completely reversible. Neon tubes work on the same principle and last for years!
Eventually (probably after many years) a whole bunch of effects will probably kick in; if there's some impurities in the krypton, they might react with the plasma; the walls of the container will degrade and become opaque, etc.
Whether a certain voltage will cause the krypton to glow seems to be a pretty complicated problem! I believe that would depend on the frequency of the tesla coil (V = dB/dT), how it's coupled to the gas (is there a wire in the tube?), and how large the volume of gas that you want to light.
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3$\begingroup$ Likely would need a pressure less than atmosphere in the tube for best results. A Tesla coil is overkill - just a simple rf coil will do. $\endgroup$ Oct 9, 2020 at 18:09
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Your question reminds me to Nixie tubes. Well, these typically deploy Ne and Ar (e.g. in the Czech republic, Dalibor Farny, documentation video). But there are Penning mixtures for Krypton, too, as examined e.g. by Heylen in 1985 in the International Journal of Electronics (doi 10.1080/00207218508939078) with propylene:
(loc. cit.)
answered Oct 10, 2020 at 11:15