The Noble Gas

                               Noble gases’ colors 

          The noble gases are the inert gases. They’re abundant in the nature. “The noble gases” is a name of a group on the periodic table located in group 8a (VIIIA). Noble gases’ period has only 9 elements. Such as helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), radon (Rn), and oganesson (Og). They’re very difficult to react with other elements cause their stability. But now many figures can make many compounds of the noble gases.

          Although the 118th element has been found, which is an artificial element, and the new IUPAC (International Union and Pure Applied Chemistry) named it oganesson (Og), nevertheless, in average, most people recognize other than oganesson, those known noble gases. 

          The popular property of the noble gases is inert (unreactive), i.e., very difficult to react with other elements. That's because the electron configuration of the noble gases is full in their atomic shells, so that it can be said to be an octet (except for helium, duplet: two valence electrons), they have eight valence electrons in the outer shell.

          But, in 1962 the world of chemistry was shaken since Neil Barlett, a chemist from Canada, made a stable element from xenon gas, the formula is XePtF6. The discovery has cracked the mystery of the noble gases. Sometimes later, other experts made various compounds from the noble gases. Since then, the term inert has fallen out of favor. Experts tend to use the term noble gas which means stable and difficult to react because until now. There’s no their natural compounds have been found, from them. and in nature they tend to be alone. As noble metals, like gold, those elements tend to be more inert and they don’t have the complex mineral.

Noble gases have very low melting and boiling points. The reason is because noble gases are monatomic molecules. The force between the molecules is simply the london force which as we know is the weakest force. The following is a discussion of the noble gases and their uses

          Helium (He) is a noble gas that may be familiar in our environment, its function is for balloons, etc. The helium balloons could fly in the air because helium has a smaller density than air, that's why helium is lighter than the air and it can make the balloon fly, helium is also used to replace diver's breath. Blowing helium gas can raise our voices, but many opinions say that’s dangerous. You should avoid it to prevent the bad possibilities. The name, helium comes from the word helios which in Greek language means sun, because helium gas that makes stars glow, it’s coming from the nuclear fusion reactions in the sun and other stars.

          Neon (Ne) is a noble gas that may also be familiar in our environment. Its functions include filling the light bulb. Its name is from the Greek neos which means new.

          Argon (Ar) is the most noble gas in air after nitrogen and oxygen, its abundance is about 0.934% in air. And it’s so useful in industries. First, gas fill light bulb. Secondly, welding metal. welding with argon welding is better because argon is a gas that is difficult to react, so oxygen does not easily corrode the metal, which being welded because it is coated with argon which is difficult to react with other elements including oxygen. So that it protects the metal. Third, laser treatment, today and now, treatment is growing, one of which is laser technology. Argon is often used as a medium for Argon laser or tubeable dye laser, because when the argon laser touches a pigmented skin disorder, it releases heat energy so that it can evaporate the pigment, argon lasers have the ability to selectively remove pigments in the skin. Sea water also contains argon. Its name is from the Greek language argos which means lazy.

          Krypton (Kr) is a gas that is used as light source, e.g. the lighthouse lights, camera flash rays, incandescent lamps (such as argon) and other lamps. The name krypton comes from the Greek language kryptos which means hidden.

          Xenon (Xe) is a noble gas used for anesthesia, and for electron tubes. A stable xenon compound, XeF3 is a solid which at the under pressure, explodes and has the same explosive force as TNT (trinitrotoluene). Its name comes from the Greek language xenos which means foreign / unknown.

          Radon (Rn) is a radioactive inert gas, which is an unstable atomic nucleus that emits radiation and decays later to become a stable isotope. Radon is commonly used for radiation and treatment. Apart from curing it can also cause lung cancer. Radon used to be underground. So be careful for people who have a basement. It is very dangerous if the basement walls of the building are cracked, radon gas can get in there and poison the room. And it is very dangerous if there is a water pipe or water because if radon flows with water and you use that water which contains radon, radon can poisons you and make lung cancer which you can die at the ending.

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