 Discovery Information
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| Who: Sir William Ramsey, M.W. Travers |
| When: 1898 |
| Where: Great Britain |
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| Name Origin
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| Greek: xenon (stranger or strange one). |
| "Xenon" in different languages. |
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| Sources
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| Obtained from the small quantities in liquid air.
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| Xenon is relatively rare in the Sun's atmosphere, on Earth, and in the asteroids and comets. The atmosphere of Mars shows
a similar xenon abundance to that of Earth: 0.08 parts per million. However, Mars shows a higher proportion of 129Xe than the Earth or the Sun. As this isotope is generated by radioactive decay, the result may indicate that Mars lost most of its primordial atmosphere, possibly within
the first 100 million years after the planet was formed. By contrast, the planet Jupiter has an unusually high abundance of
xenon in its atmosphere; about 2.6 times as much as the Sun.
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| Abundance
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| Universe: 0.01 ppm (by weight) |
| Atmosphere: 0.86 ppm |
| Earth's Crust: 2 x 10-6 ppm
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| Seawater: 1 x 10-4 ppm
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| Uses
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| Used in electronic flashes, projection lamps, UV lamps, and other powerful lamps. Also used in bubble chambers and paint testers. |
| Preferred fuel for Ion Propulsion because of high molecular weight, ease of ionization, store as a liquid at near room temperature
(but at high pressure) yet easily converts back into a gas to fuel the engine, inert nature makes it environmentally friendly
and less corrosive to an ion engine than other fuels such as mercury or caesium.
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| History
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| Xenon was discovered in England by William Ramsay and Morris Travers on July 12, 1898, shortly after their discovery of the elements krypton and neon. They found it in the residue left over from evaporating components of liquid air.
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| Notes
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| Recently at the University of Helsinki in Finland some scientists have made HXeOH and HXeCCH (xenon hydride-hydroxide and hydroxenoacetylene), they are stable up to 40K.
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| Because xenon is heavier than air, the speed of sound in xenon is slower than that in air, and when inhaled, lowers the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract. This produces a characteristic lowered voice pitch,
analogous to the high-pitched voice caused by inhalation of helium. The inhalation of xenon is more dangerous than that inhalation of helium. Inhalation can cause mild-to-moderate, short-lasting effects, including a pounding sensation associated with light and sound.
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| Using gigapascals of pressure, xenon has been forced into a metallic phase. |
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| Hazards
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| Xenon is non-toxic, but many of its compounds are toxic due to their strong oxidative properties.
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