Xenon :: essays research papers

XenonXenon is element number 54 on the day-by-day table of the elements. It has amass of roughly 131 atomic mass units. There ar 77 neutrons and 54 protons inthe nucleus of the atom. The symbol for xenon is Xe and it belongs to thefamily of elements called the noble gases. It is called a noble gas because thevalance shell of one atom contains a full shell. Xenon is one of the moststable elements on the table. The 54 electrons are arranged, so that there are2 in the 1st shell, 8 in the 2nd, 18 in the 3rd, 18 in the quaternary and lastly 8 inthe 5th shell. The melting and boiling points of xenon are extremely low. Theyare -111C and -107C respectively.Xenon and most of the early(a) noble gases were discovered by Sir WilliamRamsey and M.W. Travers from England in 1898. The two scientists discovered itmistakenly while experimenting with crude krypton, another noble gas. They wereseparating the elements in the crude krypton by a process called fractionaldistillation. In fractional dis tillation, the process separates two elementsthat have different boiling points. Basic-ally, when a sample is heated, thefaster element leaves first, leaving the second element behind. Krypton wasknown to have a boiling point at a temperature that is lower than xenon. So thescientists could predict that heating the smorgasbord would leave krypton in thecontainer, while the faster boiling xenon leaving it. After the two scientistsseparated krypton and xenon, they identified it as a new element through theemission spectrum of the gas.Xenon is used heavily in light bulbs. Many of the bulbs in cameraflashes have xenon in them, because they can be used over 10,000 times withoutburning out, as well as producing a good balance of all colors. Xenon is withalused in medical purposes. Local anesthesia is made up of 20% oxygen and 80%xenon. Xenon overly can be injected or breathed into the body to give clearerM.R.I.s or X-rays. In addition to the uses above, xenon is also in movieprojector lamps, advertising lights, and bubble chambers, Bubble chambers aredevices used by physicists that are used to detect nuclear radiation. Theelement is very chemically stable and unradioactive and is generally not harmfulto man. Xenon is also nonflammable. It is only when it combines with otherelements that xenon becomes hazardous. Xenon compounds are highly radioactive.This element accounts for a very minimal amount of the earths crust. Only3x10-9% of the earth contains xenon.