The noble gas xenon is the rarest stable element on earth. It is used in medicine, for insulation, in lasers and in ion engines.
The Scottish chemist William Ramsey first isolated helium in 1895 and realized that, according to the laws of the chemical periodic table, there had to be other noble gases. However, he was only able to find xenon when he and his colleague Morris William Travers took a closer look at the newly discovered krypton. Using fractional distillation, the two scientists were able to isolate another gas from it. The two researchers named the substance, which had resisted discovery, after the ancient Greek word for foreign - Xenos.
Element symbol
Xe
Occurrence
Mainly in the atmosphere, with a proportion of around 0.09 ppm. Seawater, some rocks and natural gas sources also contain small amounts of xenon.
Melting point
− 111.7 °C
Boiling point
− 108.0 °C
Chemical properties
Colorless, inert like all noble gases, but together with radon the most reactive element in this group. It even reacts directly with fluorine. However, most xenon compounds are unstable or only occur under exceptional conditions.
Extraction
Air separation
Application
Component in filling gases for lamps, lasers and plasma screens, inhalation anesthetic, propellant in ion engines
Today xenon is extracted from the air in air separation plants. Due to the low concentration of the noble gas in the air, this is only economical in very large plants. If, for example, 24 tons of oxygen are produced per hour in a specially equipped plant, even theoretically only one kilogram of xenon is produced per day. Today xenon is extracted from liquid oxygen in the air separation process.
The cost of this is enormous, which is why xenon is the most expensive noble gas. This is why it is rarely used even in medicine, although it is considered one of the most compatible and environmentally friendly anesthetics. It is also used as a filling gas for gas discharge lamps - xenon lamps emit radiation that is very similar to daylight. However, they are increasingly being replaced by LEDs.
Where particularly thin insulating windows are required, such as in historical buildings, xenon is used as an insulating gas between the panes. It is used as a laser medium in excimer lasers. It also plays a small but important role in space technology: as a propellant in ion engines, the gas keeps satellites in the desired position.
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