Xenon

54
Xe
131.29

xenon.jpg (8887 bytes)
Xenon is used in Sun Lamps.

Properties
Symbol Name Atomic Number Atomic Weight Group Number
Xe Xenon 54 131.29 18

Description

Standard State: gas at 298 K
Color: Colorless

Discovered by Ramsay and Travers in 1898 in the residue left after evaporating liquid air components.

Xenon is a member of the so-called noble or "inert" gases.  It is present in the atmosphere to the extent of about on part in twenty million.  Xenon is present in the Martian atmosphere to the extent of .08 ppm.  The element is found in gases evolved from certain minerals springs, and is commercially obtained by extraction from liquid air.

Metallic xenon has been produced using several hundred kilobars of pressure.   Xenon in a vacuum tube produces, a beautiful blue glow when excite by an electrical discharge.  Xenon is used in the atomic energy field in bubble chambers, probes, and other applications.