OK, so chemistry was not my strong suite in college; but I remember reading long ago, that the “Noble” gases (Argon, Neon, Krypton, Xenon, Radon) can actually form compounds-have these compouns any uses?
I know that these gases are used in signs (neon), and some lamps (xenon), but what else are they good for?
And, will krypton actually kill Clark kent?
Only if he would have been on the planet when it exploded.
I have no doubt that with fancy lab equipment and a lot of work, one can form compounds out of argon, neon, and the like, but the point is that under ‘normal’ conditions, these so-called noble gases are inert. They are the ice queens of the gaseous world, keeping to themselves and not readily combining with other elements to form compounds.
One good use for an inert gas is in an environment where you don’t want things to deteriorate and degrade due to normal atmospheric conditions. My father, as a computer guy, has encountered computer environments that had to be absolutely free of oxidation and degradation.
One way to do that, of course, is to create a vacuum in which the computer lives. But maintaining a vacuum is difficult and cumbersome. It’s much easier to flood the environment with an inert gas, pushing out all those slutty oxygen molecules that will couple with just about anything.
The so called “noble” gases are not as noble as some may think. They have bad table manners and have been known to make long distance calls on your phone when you have them over. Helium is a kleptomaniac. Neon smokes crack. Krypton uses the same masturbation technique as Jolt Sucker. (Described in way too much detail in another thread.) Radon knocked up my girlfriend. And don’t even get me started on Argon and Xenon.
You would do well to stay away from these “noble” gases. They are nothing but trouble. Why don’t you go and play with that nice CH4, that’s a gas you can introduce to your parents.
Helium is also inert.
I don’t know about the compounds’ usefulness, but inert gases are very useful for creating an atmosphere of non-reactive gas. For example, when welding some metals if the weld were exposed to air the metal would react with the atmosphere and change - likely for the worse. By surrounding the weld in argon or helium or whatever, the metal does not react with the gases and stays strong.
In addition, they can be used to store things that might deteriorate with exposure to air, such as old documents or art work.
Also, I think they may be used in some light bulbs to help protect the filament, but I’m not sure about this.
Helium
Uses: Used in balloons, deep sea diving & welding. Also used in very low temperature research. Future possible uses include use as coolant for nuclear fusion power plants and in superconducting electric systems.
Additional Notes: Helium has the lowest melting and boiling point of any element. Liquid Helium is called a “quantum fluid” as it displays atomic properties on a macroscopic scale. The viscosity of liquid helium is 25 micropoises (water has a viscosity of 10,000 micropoises). As helium is cooled below its transition point, it has an unusual property of superfluidity with a viscosity approaching zero micropoises. In addition, liquid helium has extremelyhigh thermal conductivity.
Neon
Uses: In a vacuum tube, neon glows reddish orange, thus, the invention of the neon lights. Neon has also been used to make lightening arrestors and TV tubes.
Additional Notes: While it is inert, there have been reports of it combining with fluorine. Neon may also form ions in combination with other noble gases (NeAr, HeNe, Ne[sub]2[/sub] and with hydrogen (NeH). It also forms an unstable hydrate, so it is not nearly as inert as one might think.
Argon
Uses: Argon is used for lighting. It may also be used to provide an inert atmosphere for certain projects when explosion or other forms of oxidation may pose a problem.
Krypton
Uses: Lighting and other uses for non-reactive gases.
Xenon
Uses: Used for filling flash lamps and other powerful lamps. Also used in bubble chambers.
Radon
Uses: Used to treat some forms of cancer.
There are two common everyday uses for argon.
1: Fancy double pane windows for hot climates have the interior space between the pane filled with argon. I believe that there are two reasons, though it may be marketing hype. Argon is a better insulator than dry air, so less heat gets through. Also, probably for the same reason, sound does not travel through the window as well, so you get less noise getting through the window.
2: In order to keep oxygen away from the joint, aluminum welders use a stream of argon gas.
OK, here’s all I know:
The heavier ones will react fairly readily with fluorine ( I believe xenon, radon and krypton)- I learned this years ago in chemistry. This make sense, since their electrons aren’t as closely bound. I think several xenon compounds have been formed, actually. I have no idea what use they would be. They are highly oxidizing. I got the idea that forming these compounds was mostly experimental. Radon itself decays, so compounds there would be kind of useless.
Radon is used in cancer treatment; argon in many kinds of lightbulbs, along with or instead of oxygen. Some are used in strobe lights and black lights, and photography - don’t recall which. Since they are so non-reactive they’re useful in spectrometers, etc. Remember - helium is also a noble gas - it has many uses.
There - was that vague enough for you?
We need that science guy who knew so much about acids.
-sulla
Since everyone posted the uses for the individual noble gases, lemme just slip in a note about the known uses of rare gas compounds.
As far as I can tell, on of the only practical uses is in lasers.
From the bottom of this page:
In the refining of plutonium, I believe there’s a point where you get compounds of either plutonium or uranium with one of the nobles - either Kr, Xe, or Ar. This is all rather fuzzy in my head, if you couldn’t tell. But anyway, I do remember that you get an octahedral compound, that is, the metal atom in the middle with six gas atoms around it.
Smeghead, I recall reading about these compounds, too; I think they’re called clathrates. I seem to remember that in clathrates, the atoms of one element form a cage-like structure around the other element, but don’t actually share any electrons with it. I tried to search for more information on them but only came up with a gazillion pages of stuff over my head.
Hmmm. Curse my feeble memory.
Mostly correct to this point, but a few corrections and a few more uses:
Helium: There are two liquid states for helium. Standard liquid helium has a fairly standard viscosity… It’s the lower temperature/higher pressure “Liquid II” helium which has the superfluid properties.
Helium is also used as a transport gas in gas chromatography because it is both light (mass=4 amu) and inert.
Argon is the most common gas when inert atmosphere is needed (especially when working with things that react with nitrogen), and it is cheap and plentiful (it is the third most abundant gas in the atmosphere)
All except helium are used in lighting.
Xenon compounds make fairly exotic oxidizing agents, but I think I recall seeing them used for just that, though I forget the exact special circumstance that call for them, they are somewhat more than just a trivial curiosity.
The compounds used in lasers are called “excited dimers”, hence “eximer” lasers. The laser tube contains a noble gas and a halogen. When the laser is pumped, the noble gas loses electrons and forms a temporary, high-energy compound with the halogen - the excited dimer. These are very short-lived and really only useful because they provide a metastable high energy state for the laser.
In the film “Real Genius” they found a way to freeze an eximer solid in its excited state and used it as a fuel for a orbiting laser weapon. It would also make a pretty violent explosive, but I doubt that it’s possible.
XeF[sub]2[/sub] is commercially available from several companies and a quite widely cited fluorinating agent. It is a little expensive though, and so tends not to be used as a reagent of fist choice. So now you know.