OXYGEN Oxygen was first discovered by Swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

. He had produced oxygen gas by heating mercuric oxide and various nitrates by about 1772. Scheele called the gas "fire air" because it was the only known supporter of combustion, and wrote an account of this discovery in a manuscript he titled Treatise on Air and Fire, which he sent to his publisher in 1775. However, that document was not published until 1777. In the meantime, on August 1, 1774, an experiment conducted by the British clergyman Joseph Priestley focused sunlight on mercuric oxide (HgO) inside a glass tube, which liberated a gas he named "dephlogisticated air. He noted that candles burned brighter in the gas and that a mouse was more active and lived longer while breathing it. After breathing the gas himself, he wrote: "The feeling of it to my lungs was not sensibly different from that of common air, but I fancied that my breast felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards. Priestley published his findings in 1775 in a paper titled "An Account of Further Discoveries in Air" which was included in the second volume of his book titled Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air. Because he published his findings first, Priestley is usually given priority in the discovery. The noted French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier later claimed to have discovered the new substance independently. However, Priestley visited Lavoisier in October 1774 and told him about his experiment and how he liberated the new gas. Scheele also posted a letter to Lavoisier on September 30, 1774 that described his own discovery of the previously unknown substance, but Lavoisier never acknowledged receiving it (a copy of the letter was found in Scheele's belongings after his death). What Lavoisier did indisputably do (although this was disputed at the time) was to conduct the first adequate quantitative experiments on oxidation and give the first correct explanation of how combustion works. He used these and similar experiments, all started in 1774, to discredit the phlogiston theory and to

prove that the substance discovered by Priestley and Scheele was a chemical element. Antoine Lavoisier discredited the Phlogiston theory. In one experiment, Lavoisier observed that there was no overall increase in weight when tin and air were heated in a closed container He noted that air rushed in when he opened the container, which indicated that part of the trapped air had been consumed. He also noted that the tin had increased in weight and that increase was the same as the weight of the air that rushed back in. This and other experiments on combustion were documented in his book Sur la combustion en gnral, which was published in 1777.In that work, he proved that air is a mixture of two gases; 'vital air', which is essential to combustion and respiration, andazote (Gk. "lifeless"), which did not support either. Lavoisier renamed 'vital air' to oxygne in 1777 from the Greek roots (oxys) (acid, literally "sharp," from the taste of acids) and - (gens) (producer, literally begetter), because he mistakenly believed that oxygen was a constituent of all acids. Chemists (notably Sir Humphrey Davy in 1812) eventually determined that Lavoisier was wrong in this regard (it is in fact hydrogen that forms the basis for acid chemistry), but by that time it was too late, the name had taken. Oxygen entered the English language despite opposition by English scientists and the fact that the Englishman Priestley had first isolated the gas and written about it. This is partly due to a poem praising the gas titled "Oxygen" in the popular book The Botanic Garden (1791) by Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin. Robert H. Goddard and a liquid oxygengasoline rocket Its name derives from the Greek roots (oxys) ("acid", literally "sharp", referring to the sour taste of acids) and - (-gnos) ("producer", literally "begetter"), because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen, a very pale blue, odorless, tasteless diatomic gas with the formula O2. This compound is an important part of

the atmosphere, and is necessary to sustain terrestrial life. Characteristics Oxygen is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table and is a highly reactive nonmetallic element that readily forms compounds (notably oxides) with almost all other elements. Oxygen is a strong oxidizing agent and has the second-highest electronegativity of all the elements (only fluorine has a higher electronegativity). By mass, oxygen is the third-most abundant element in the universe,after hydrogen and helium[2] and the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust, making up almost half of the crust's mass.[3] Free oxygen is too chemically reactive to appear on Earth without the photosynthetic action of living organisms, which use the energy of sunlight to produce elemental oxygen from water. Elemental O2 only began to accumulate in the atmosphere after the evolutionary appearance of these organisms, roughly 2.5 billion years ago. Diatomic oxygen gas constitutes 20.8% of the volume of air. Because it comprises most of the mass in water, oxygen comprises most of the mass of living organisms (for example, about two-thirds of the human body's mass). All major classes of structural molecules in living organisms, such as proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, contain oxygen, as do the major inorganic compounds that comprise animal shells, teeth, and bone. . Elemental oxygen is produced by cyanobacteria, algae and plants, and is used in cellular respiration for all complex life. Oxygen is toxic to obligately anaerobic organisms, which were the dominant form of early life on Earth until O2 began to accumulate in the atmosphere. Another form (allotrope) of oxygen, ozone (O3), helps protect the biosphere from ultraviolet radiation with the high-altitude ozone layer, but is a pollutant near the surface where it is a byproduct of smog. At even higher low earth orbit altitudes atomic oxygen is a significant presence and a cause of erosion for spacecraft.

Oxygen discharge (spectrum) tube At standard temperature and pressure, oxygen is a very pale blue, odorless gas with the molecular formula O2, in which the two oxygen atoms are chemically bonded to each other with a spin triplet electron configuration. bond has a bond order of two, and is often simplified in description as a double bond[8] or as a combination of one two-electron bond and two three-electron bonds. A trickle of liquid oxygen is deflected by a magnetic field, illustrating its paramagnetic property Singlet oxygen is a name given to several higherenergy species of molecular O2 in which all the electron spins are paired. It is much more reactive towards commonorganic molecules than is molecular oxygen per se. . In nature, singlet oxygen is commonly formed from water during photosynthesis, using the energy of sunlight.It is also produced in the troposphere by the photolysis of ozone by light of short wavelength, and by the immune system as a source of active oxygen. Carotenoids in photosynthetic organisms (and possibly also in animals) play a major role in absorbing energy from singlet oxygen and converting it to the unexcited ground state before it can cause harm to tissues. Physical properties Oxygen is more soluble in water than nitrogen is; water contains approximately 1 molecule of O2 for every 2 molecules of N2, compared to an atmospheric ratio of approximately 1:4. The solubility of oxygen in water is temperaturedependent. Oxygen is the most abundant chemical element, by mass, in the Earth's biosphere, air, sea and land. Oxygen is the third most abundant chemical element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. About 0.9% of the Sun's mass is oxygen.Oxygen constitutes 49.2% of theEarth's crust by mass and is the major component of the world's oceans (88.8% by mass). Oxygen gas is the second most common component of the Earth's atmosphere, taking up 20.8% of its volume and 23.1% of its mass (some 1015 tonnes).

 Earth is unusual among the planets of the Solar System in having such a high concentration of oxygen gas in its atmosphere: Mars (with 0.1% O2 by volume) and Venushave far lower concentrations. However, the O2 surrounding these other planets is produced solely by ultraviolet radiation impacting oxygen-containing molecules such as carbon dioxide. USES Medical Use Uptake of O2 from the air is the essential purpose of respiration, so oxygen supplementation is used in medicine. Treatment not only increases oxygen levels in the patient's blood, but has the secondary effect of decreasing resistance to blood flow in many types of diseased lungs, easing work load on the heart. Oxygen therapy is used to treat emphysema, pneumonia, some heart disorders (congestive heart failure), some disorders that cause increased pulmonary artery pressure, and any disease that impairs the body's ability to take up and use gaseous oxygen. Life support and recreational use Industrial Use Tests to identify Oxygen

preclassical Greece;this is mentioned in the Odyssey. Pliny the Elder discusses sulfur in book 35 of his Natural History, saying that its best-known source is the island of Melos. He mentions its use for fumigation, medicine, and bleaching cloth. A natural form of sulfur known as shiliuhuang was known in China since the 6th century BC and found in Hanzhong. By the 3rd century, the Chinese discovered that sulfur could be extracted frompyrite. Chinese Daoists were interested in sulfur's flammability and its reactivity with certain metals, yet its earliest practical uses were found in traditional Chinese medicine.[34] A Song Dynasty military treatise of 1044 AD described different formulas for Chinese black powder, which is a mixture of potassium nitrate (KNO3), charcoal, and sulfur. Early alchemists gave sulfur its own alchemical symbol which was a triangle at the top of a cross. In traditional medical skin treatment which predates modern era of scientific medicine, elemental sulfur has been used mainly as part of creams creams to alleviate various conditions such as scabies, ringworm, psoriasis, eczema and acne. The mechanism of action is not known, although elemental sulfur does oxidize slowly to sulfurous acid, which in turn (through the action of sulfite) acts as a mild reducing and antibacterial agent. Characteristics

Put a glowing splint into a sample of the gas. Splint relights. SULFUR Being abundantly available in native form, sulfur (Latin sulphur) was known in ancient times and is referred to in the Torah (Genesis). English translations of the Bible commonly referred to burning sulfur as "brimstone", giving rise to the name of 'fire-and-brimstone' sermons, in which listeners are reminded of the fate of eternal damnation that await the unbelieving and unrepentant. It is from this part of the Bible that Hell is implied to "smell of sulfur" (likely due to its association with volcanic activity). According to the Ebers Papyrus, a sulfur ointment was used in ancient Egypt to treat granular eyelids. Sulfur was used for fumigation in

Sulfur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant,multivalent nonmetal. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow crystalline solid when at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur can react as either an oxidant or reducing agent. It oxidizes most metals and several nonmetals, including carbon, which leads to its negative charge in most organosulfur compounds, but it reduces several strong oxidants, such as oxygen and fluorine. It is also the lightest element to easily produce stable exceptions to the octet rule. In nature, sulfur can be found as the pure element and as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Elemental sulfur crystals are commonly sought after by

mineral collectors for their brightly colored polyhedronshapes. Being abundant in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times, mentioned for its uses in ancient Greece, China and Egypt. Sulfur fumes were used as fumigants, and sulfur-containing medicinal mixtures were used as balms and antiparasitics. Sulfur burns with a blue flame concomitant with formation of sulfur dioxide, notable for its peculiar suffocating odor. Sulfur is insoluble in water but soluble incarbon disulfide and, to a lesser extent, in other nonpolar organic solvents, such as benzene and toluene. Compounds Sulfides Treatment of sulfur with hydrogen gives hydrogen sulfide. When dissolved in water, hydrogen sulfide is mildly acidic:[2] H2S HS + H+ Hydrogen sulfide gas and the dissolved sulfide and hydrosulfide anions are extremely toxic to mammals, due to their inhibition of the oxygencarrying capacity of hemoglobin and certain cytochromes in a manner analogous to cyanide and azide Sulfuric acid Elemental sulfur is mainly used as a precursor to other chemicals. Approximately 85% (1989) is converted to sulfuric acid (H2SO4): 2 S + 3 O2 + 2 H2O 2 H2SO4 USES Fertilizer Sulfur is increasingly used as a component of fertilizers. The most important form of sulfur for fertilizer is the mineral calcium sulfate. Fungicide and pesticide . "Dusting sulfur," elemental sulfur in powdered form, is a common fungicide for grapes, strawberry, many vegetables and several other crops. It has a good efficacy against a wide range of powdery mildew diseases as well as black spot. In organic production, sulfur is the most important fungicide. It is the only fungicide used in organically farmed apple production against the main disease apple scab under colder conditions.

Bacteriocide in winemaking and food preservation Small amounts of sulfur dioxide gas addition (or equivalent potassium metabisulfite addition) to fermented wine to produce traces of sulfurous acid (produced when SO2 reacts with water) and its sulfite salts in the mixture, has been called "the most powerful tool in winemaking.". Sulfur dioxide and various sulfites have been used for their antioxidant antibacterial preservative properties in many other parts of the food industry also. The practice has declined since reports of a allergy-like reaction of some persons to sulfites in foods. Test to Identify Sulfur When burned, sulfur melts to a blood-red liquid and emits a blue flame which is best observed in the dark. Selenium

History Selenium (Greek selene meaning "Moon") was discovered in 1817 by Jns Jakob Berzelius and Johan Gottlieb Gahn.[19] Both chemists owned a chemistry plant near Gripsholm, Sweden producing sulfuric acid by the lead chamber process. The pyrite from the Falun mine created a red precipitate in the lead chambers which was presumed to be an arsenic compound, and so the pyrite's use to make acid was discontinued. Berzelius and Gahn wanted to use the pyrite and they also observed that the red precipitate gave off a smell like horseradish when burned. This smell was not typical of arsenic, but a similar odor was known from tellurium compounds. Hence, Berzelius's first letter to Alexander Marcet stated that this was a tellurium compound. However, the lack of tellurium compounds in the Falun mine minerals eventually led Berzelius to reanalyze the red precipitate, and in 1818 he wrote a second letter to Marcet describing a newly found element similar to sulfur and tellurium. Because of its similarity to tellurium, named for the Earth, Berzelius named the new element after the Moon. In 1873, Willoughby Smith found that the electrical resistance of grey selenium was dependent on the ambient light. This led to its use as a cell for sensing light. The first of commercial products using selenium were developed by Werner Siemens in

the mid-1870s. The selenium cell was used in the photophone developed by Alexander Graham Bell in 1879. Selenium transmits an electric current proportional to the amount of light falling on its surface. This phenomenon was used in the design of light meters and similar devices. Selenium's semiconductor properties found numerous other applications in electronics.[22][23][24] The development of selenium rectifiers began during the early 1930s, and these replaced copper oxide rectifiers because of their superior efficiencies. Selenium (/slinim/ s-LEE-nee-m) is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal with properties that are intermediate between those of its periodic table columnadjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium. It rarely occurs in its elemental state in nature, or as pure ore compounds. Selenium (Greek selene meaning "Moon") was discovered in 1817 by Jns Jakob Berzelius, who noted the similarity of the new element to the previously-known tellurium (named for the Earth). Physical properties Black selenium The most stable allotrope of selenium is a dense reddish-gray solid. In terms of structure, it adopts a helical polymeric chain.[4] The Se-Se distance is 2.37 and the Se-Se-Se angle is 103. It is a semiconductor and is used in photocells. Gray selenium resists oxidation by air and is not attacked by non-oxidizing acids. With strong reducing agents, it forms polyselenides. Molecular allotropes The second major allotrope of Se is red selenium. The solid consists of individual molecules of eightmembered ring molecules, like its lighter cousin sulfur. The Se-Se distance is 2.34 and the Se-SeSe angle is 106. Unlike sulfur, however, the red form converts to the gray polymeric allotrope with heat. Other rings with the formula Sen are also known. Selenium forms two oxides: selenium dioxide (SeO2) and selenium trioxide (SeO3). Selenium dioxide is formed by the reaction of elemental selenium with oxygen:[7] Se8 + 8 O2 8 SeO2

Structure of the polymer SeO2. The (pyramidal) Se atoms are yellow. USES

The demand for Se was around 2300 tonnes/y in the years 19891991.[49] Manganese electrolysis During the electro winning of manganese an addition of selenium dioxide decreases the power necessary to operate the electrolysis cells. China is the largest consumer of selenium dioxide for this purpose. For every ton of manganese an average of 2 kg selenium oxide is used. Glass production The largest commercial use of Se, accounting for about 50% of consumption, is for the production of glass. Se compounds confer a red color to glass. This color cancels out the green or yellow tints that arise from iron impurities that are typical for most glass. For this purpose various selenite and selenate salts are added. For other applications, the red color may be desirable, in which case mixtures of CdSe and CdS are added. Alloys Selenium is used with bismuth in brasses to replace more toxic lead. The regulation of lead in drinking water applications with the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 made a reduction of lead in brass necessary. The new brass is marketed under the name EnviroBrass.[52] Like lead and sulfur, selenium improves the machinability of steel at concentrations of 0,15 %.[53][54] The same improvement is also observed in copper alloys and therefore selenium is also used in machinable copper alloys Solar cells Copper indium gallium selenide is a material used in the production of solar cells. Other uses Small amounts of organoselenium compounds are used to modify the vulcanization catalysts used in the production of rubber. The demand for selenium by the electronics industry is declining, despite a number of continuing applications.[57] Because of its photovoltaic and photoconductive properties, selenium is used in photocopying[58][59][60][61], photocells, light meters and solar cells. Its use as a

photoconductor in plain-paper copiers once was a leading application but in the 1980s, the photoconductor application declined (although it was still a large end-use) as more and more copiers switched to the use of organic photoconductors. It was once widely used in selenium rectifiers. These uses have mostly been replaced by siliconbased devices or are in the process of being replaced. The most notable exception is in power DC surge protection, where the superior energy capabilities of selenium suppressors make them more desirable than metal oxide varistors. Zinc selenide was the first material for blue LEDs but gallium nitride is dominating the market now.[62] Cadmium selenide has recently played an important part in the fabrication of quantum dots. Sheets of amorphous selenium convert x-ray images to patterns of charge in xeroradiography and in solid-state, flat-panel x-ray cameras. Selenium is a catalyst in some chemical reactions but it is not widely used because of issues with toxicity. In X-ray crystallography, incorporation of one or more selenium atoms in place of sulfur helps with Multi-wavelength anomalous dispersion and Single wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing. Selenium is used in the toning of photographic prints, and it is sold as a toner by numerous photographic manufacturers. Its use intensifies and extends the tonal range of black-and-white photographic images and improves the permanence of prints. Nutritional sources of selenium Dietary selenium comes from nuts, cereals, meat, mushrooms, fish, and eggs. Brazil nuts are the richest ordinary dietary source (though this is soildependent, since the Brazil nut does not require high levels of the element for its own needs). In descending order of concentration, high levels are also found in kidney, tuna, crab, and lobster. The human body's content of selenium is believed to be in the 1320 milligram range. Medical use The substance loosely called selenium sulfide (approximate formula SeS2) is the active ingredient in some anti-dandruff shampoos.The selenium compound kills the scalp fungus Malassezia, which causes shedding of dry skin fragments. The ingredient is also used in body lotions to treat Tinea

versicolor due to infection by a different species of Malassezia fungus.

Tellurium (Latin tellus meaning "earth") was discovered in the 18th century in a gold ore from the mines in Zlatna, near what is now Sibiu, Transylvania. This ore was known as "Faczebajer weies blttriges Golderz" (white leafy gold ore from Faczebaja) or antimonalischer Goldkies (antimonic gold pyrite), and, according to Anton von Rupprecht, was Spieglasknig (argent molybdique), containing native antimony. In 1782 Franz-Joseph Mller von Reichenstein, who was then serving as the Austrian chief inspector of mines in Transylvania, concluded that the ore did not contain antimony, but that it was bismuth sulfide.[32] The following year, he reported that this was erroneous and that the ore contained mostly gold and an unknown metal very similar to antimony. After a thorough investigation which lasted for three years and consisted of more than fifty tests, Mller determined the specific gravity of the mineral and noted the radish-like odor of the white smoke which passed off when the new metal was heated, the red color which the metal imparts to sulfuric acid, and the black precipitate which this solution gives when diluted with water. Nevertheless, he was not able to identify this metal and gave it the names aurum paradoxium and metallum problematicum, as it did not show the properties predicted for the expected antimony. In 1789, another Hungarian scientist, Pl Kitaibel, also discovered the element independently in an ore from Deutsch-Pilsen which had been regarded as argentiferous molybdenite, but later he gave the credit to Mller. In 1798, it was named by Martin Heinrich Klaproth who earlier isolated it from the mineral calaverite.[34][35][36] The 1960s brought growth in thermoelectric applications for tellurium (as bismuth telluride), as well as its use in freemachining steel, which became the dominant use PROPERTIES A sample of tellurium dioxide powder

 Tellurium dioxide is formed by heating tellurium in air, causing it to burn with a blue flame.[20] Tellurium trioxide, -TeO3, is obtained by thermal decomposition of Te(OH)6. The other two forms of trioxide reported in the literature, the - and forms, were found not to be true oxides of tellurium in the +6 oxidation state, but a mixture of Te4+, OH and O 2.[27] Tellurium also exhibits mixed-valence oxides, Te2O5 and Te4O9. Tellurium monoxide was first reported in 1883 as a black amorphous solid formed by the heat decomposition of TeSO3 in vacuum, disproportionating into tellurium dioxide, TeO2 and elemental tellurium upon heating.[24][25] Since then, however, some doubt has been cast on its existence in the solid phase, although it is known as a vapor phase fragment; the black solid may be merely an equimolar mixture of elemental tellurium and tellurium dioxide. Physical properties When crystalline, tellurium is silvery-white and when it is in pure state it has a metallic luster. It is a brittle and easily pulverized metalloid. Amorphous tellurium is found by precipitating it from a solution of tellurous or telluric acid (Te(OH)6).Tellurium is a semiconductor that shows a greater electrical conductivity in certain directions which depends on atomic alignment; the conductivity increases slightly when exposed to light (photoconductivity).[5] When in its molten state, tellurium is corrosive to copper, iron and stainless steel. Chemical properties Tellurium adopts a polymeric structure, consisting of zig-zag chains of Te atoms. This gray material resists oxidation by air and is nonvolatile. Isotopes Main article: Isotopes of tellurium Naturally occurring tellurium has eight isotopes. Four of those isotopes, 122Te, 124Te, 125Te and 126Te, are stable. The other four, 120Te, 123Te, 128Te and 130 Te, have been observed to be radioactive.[6][7] The stable isotopes make up only 33.2 % of the naturally occurring tellurium; this is possible due to the long half-lives of the unstable isotopes. They are in the range from 1013 to 2.2 1024 years (for 128Te). This makes 128Te the isotope with the longest half life among all

radionuclides.,[8] which is approximately 160 trillion (1012) times the age of known universe. With an abundance in the Earth's crust comparable to that of platinum, tellurium is one of the rarest stable solid elements in the Earth's crust. Its abundance is about 1 g/kg.[10] In comparison, even the rarest of the lanthanides have crustal abundances of 500 g/kg. The extreme rarity of tellurium in the Earth's crust is not a reflection of its cosmic abundance, which is in fact greater than that of rubidium, even though rubidium is ten thousand times more abundant in the Earth's crust. The extraordinarily low abundance of tellurium on Earth is rather thought to be due to conditions in the Earth's formation, when the stable form of certain elements, in the absence of oxygen and water, was controlled by the reductive power of free hydrogen. Under this scenario, certain elements such as tellurium which form volatile hydrides were severely depleted during the formation of the Earth's crust, through evaporation of these hydrides. Tellurium and selenium are the heavy elements most depleted in the Earth's crust by this process Metallurgy The largest consumer of tellurium is metallurgy, where it is used in iron, copper and lead alloys. When added to stainless steel and copper it makes these metals more machinable. It is alloyed into cast iron for promoting chill for spectroscopic purposes, as the presence of electrically conductive free graphite tends to deleteriously affect spark emission testing results. In lead it improves strength and durability and decreases the corrosive action of sulfuric acid. Semiconductor and electronic industry uses Tellurium is used in cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar panels. National Renewable Energy Laboratory lab tests using this material achieved some of the highest efficiencies for solar cell electric power generation. Massive commercial production of CdTe solar panels by First Solar in recent years has significantly increased tellurium demand.[38][39][40] If some of the cadmium in CdTe is replaced by zinc then (Cd,Zn)Te is formed which is used in solid-state X-ray detectors. Alloyed with both cadmium and mercury, to form mercury cadmium telluride, an infrared sensitive semiconductor material is formed.[42] USES

Organotellurium compounds such as dimethyl telluride, diethyl telluride, diisopropyl telluride, diallyl telluride and methyl allyl telluride are used as precursors for metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy growth of II-VI compound semiconductors.[43] Diisopropyl telluride (DIPTe) is employed as the preferred precursor for achieving the lowtemperature growth of CdHgTe by MOVPE.[44] For these processes highest purity metalorganics of both selenium and tellurium are used. The compounds for semiconductor industry and are prepared by adduct purification. Tellurium as a tellurium suboxide is used in the media layer of several types of rewritable optical discs, including ReWritable Compact Discs (CD-RW), ReWritable Digital Video Discs (DVD-RW) and ReWritable Blu-ray Discs.[47][48] Tellurium is used in the new phase change memory chips[49] developed by Intel.[50] Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and lead telluride are working elements of thermoelectric devices. Lead telluride is used in farinfrared detectors.

Noble gas is translated from the German noun Edelgas, first used in 1898 by Hugo Erdmann to indicate their extremely low level of reactivity. The name makes an analogy to the term "noble metals", which also have low reactivity. The noble gases have also been referred to as inert gases, but this label is now deprecated as many noble gas compounds are now known. Rare gases is another term that was used, but this is also inaccurate because argon forms a fairly considerable part (0.94% by volume, 1.3% by mass) of the Earth's atmosphere. Physical and Atomic Properties The noble gases have weak interatomic force, and consequently have very low melting and boiling points. They are all monatomic gases under standard conditions, including the elements with larger atomic masses than many normally solid elements. Helium has several unique qualities when compared with other elements: its boiling and melting points are lower than those of any other known substance; it is the only element known to exhibit superfluidity; it is the only element that cannot be solidified by cooling under standard conditionsa pressure of 25 standard atmospheres (2,500 kPa; 370 psi) must be applied at a temperature of 0.95 K (272.200 C; 457.960 F) to convert it to a solid. The noble gases up to xenon have multiple stable isotopes. Radon has no stable isotopes; its longestlived isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days and decays to form helium and polonium, which ultimately decays to lead. The noble gas atoms, like atoms in most groups, increase steadily in atomic radius from one period to the next due to the increasing number of electrons. The size of the atom is related to several properties. Noble gases have the largest ionization potential among the elements of each period, which reflects the stability of their electron configuration and is related to their relative lack of chemical reactivity. Noble gases cannot accept an electron to form stable anions; that is, they have a negative electron affinity. The macroscopic physical properties of the noble gases are dominated by the weak van der Waals

Noble Gases (Group 18)

The noble gases are a group of chemical elements with very similar properties: under standard conditions, they are all odorless, colorless, monatomic gases, with very low chemical reactivity. The six noble gases that occur naturally are helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), and the radioactive radon (Rn). For the first six periods of the periodic table, the noble gases are exactly the members of group 18 of the periodic table. However, it is possible that due to relativistic effects, the group 14 element flerovium exhibits some noble-gas-like properties, instead of the group 18 element ununoctium. The properties of the noble gases can be well explained by modern theories of atomic structure: their outer shell of valence electrons is considered to be "full", giving them little tendency to participate in chemical reactions, and it has only been possible to prepare a few hundred noble gas compounds. The melting and boiling points for each noble gas are close together, differing by less than 10 C (18 F); that is, they are liquids over only a small temperature range. HISTORY

forces between the atoms. The attractive force increases with the size of the atom as a result of the increase in polarizability and the decrease in ionization potential. This results in systematic group trends: as one goes down group 18, the atomic radius, and with it the interatomic forces, increases, resulting in an increasing melting point, boiling point, enthalpy of vaporization, and solubility. The increase in density is due to the increase in atomic mass. The noble gases are monatomic and the atoms spherical, which means that the interaction between the atoms is independent of direction, or isotropic. Chemical Properties The noble gases are colorless, odorless, tasteless, and nonflammable under standard conditions. They were once labeled group 0 in the periodic table because it was believed they had a valence of zero, meaning their atoms cannot combine with those of other elements to form compounds. However, it was later discovered some do indeed form compounds, causing this label to fall into disuse. Like other groups, the members of this family show patterns in its electron configuration, especially the outermost shells resulting in trends in chemical behavior: The noble gases have full valence electron shells. Valence electrons are the outermost electrons of an atom and are normally the only electrons that participate in chemical bonding. Atoms with full valence electron shells are extremely stable and therefore do not tend to form chemical bonds and have little tendency to gain or lose electrons. However, heavier noble gases such as radon are held less firmly together by electromagnetic force than lighter noble gases such as helium, making it easier to remove outer electrons from heavy noble gases. Applications Liquid helium is used to cool the superconducting magnets in modern MRI scanners. Noble gases have very low boiling and melting points, which makes them useful as cryogenic refrigerants. In particular, liquid helium, which boils at 4.2 K (268.95 C; 452.11 F), is used for superconducting magnets, such as those needed in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic resonance.

Liquid neon, although it does not reach temperatures as low as liquid helium, also finds use in cryogenics because it has over 40 times more refrigerating capacity than liquid helium and over three times more than liquid hydrogen. Helium is used as a component of breathing gases to replace nitrogen, due its low solubility in fluids, especially in lipids. Gases are absorbed by the blood and body tissues when under pressure like in scuba diving, which causes an anesthetic effect known as nitrogen narcosis. Due to its reduced solubility, little helium is taken into cell membranes, and when helium is used to replace part of the breathing mixtures, such as in trimix or heliox, a decrease in the narcotic effect of the gas at depth is obtained. Helium's reduced solubility offers further advantages for the condition known as decompression sickness, or the bends. The reduced amount of dissolved gas in the body means that fewer gas bubbles form during the decrease in pressure of the ascent. Another noble gas, argon, is considered the best option for use as a drysuit inflation gas for scuba diving. Helium is also used as filling gas in nuclear fuel rods for nuclear reactors. In many applications, the noble gases are used to provide an inert atmosphere. Argon is used in the synthesis of air-sensitive compounds that are sensitive to nitrogen. Solid argon is also used for the study of very unstable compounds, such as reactive intermediates, by trapping them in an inert matrix at very low temperatures. Helium is used as the carrier medium in gas chromatography, as a filler gas for thermometers, and in devices for measuring radiation, such as the Geiger counter and the bubble chamber. Helium and argon are both commonly used to shield welding arcs and the surrounding base metal from the atmosphere during welding and cutting, as well as in other metallurgical processes and in the production of silicon for the semiconductor industry. Noble gases are commonly used in lighting because of their lack of chemical reactivity. Argon, mixed with nitrogen, is used as a filler gas for incandescent light bulbs. Krypton is used in high-performance light bulbs, which have higher color temperatures and greater

efficiency, because it reduces the rate of evaporation of the filament more than argon; halogen lamps, in particular, use krypton mixed with small amounts of compounds of iodine or bromine. The noble gases are used in excimer lasers, which are based on short-lived electronically excited molecules known as excimers. The excimers used for lasers may be noble gas dimers such as Ar2, Kr2 or Xe2, or more commonly, the noble gas is combined with a halogen in excimers such as ArF, KrF, XeF, or XeCl. These lasers produce ultraviolet light which, due to its short wavelength (193 nm for ArF and 248 nm for KrF), allows for highprecision imaging. Excimer lasers have many industrial, medical, and scientific applications. They are used for microlithography and microfabrication, which are essential for integrated circuit manufacture, and for laser surgery, including laser angioplasty and eye surgery. The noble gases glow in distinctive colors when used inside gas-discharge lamps, such as "neon lights". These lights are called after neon but often contain other gases and phosphors, which add various hues to the orange-red color of neon. Xenon is commonly used in xenon arc lamps which, due to their nearly continuous spectrum that resembles daylight, find application in film projectors and as automobile headlamps. Some noble gases have direct application in medicine. Helium is sometimes used to improve the ease of breathing of asthma sufferers.[ Xenon is used as an anesthetic because of its high solubility in lipids, which makes it more potent than the usual nitrous oxide, and because it is readily eliminated from the body, resulting in faster recovery. Xenon finds application in medical imaging of the lungs through hyperpolarized MRI. Radon, which is highly radioactive and is only available in minute amounts, is used in radiotherapy. Discharge Color

odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling and melting points are the lowest among the elements and it exists only as a gas except in extreme conditions. Helium is the second lightest element and is the second most abundant element in the observable universe, being present at about 24% of the total elemental mass, which is more than 12 times the mass of all the heavier elements combined. Its abundance is similar to this figure in our own Sun and in Jupiter. Helium is used in cryogenics (its largest single use, absorbing about a quarter of production), particularly in the cooling of superconducting magnets, with the main commercial application being in MRI scanners. Helium's other industrial usesas a pressurizing and purge gas, as a protective atmosphere for arc welding and in processes such as growing crystals to make silicon wafersaccount for half of the gas produced. A well-known but minor use is as a lifting gas in balloons and airships. Biological effects The speed of sound in helium is nearly three times the speed of sound in air. Because the fundamental frequency of a gas-filled cavity is proportional to the speed of sound in the gas, when helium is inhaled there is a corresponding increase in the pitches of the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract. This causes a reedy, duck-like vocal quality. (The opposite effect, lowering frequencies, can be obtained by inhaling a dense gas such as sulfur hexafluoride or xenon.) Inhaling helium can be dangerous if done to excess, since helium is a simple asphyxiant and so displaces oxygen needed for normal respiration. Breathing pure helium continuously causes death by asphyxiation within minutes. Inhaling helium directly from pressurized cylinders is extremely dangerous, as the high flow rate can result in barotrauma, fatally rupturing lung tissue At high pressures (more than about 20 atm or two MPa), a mixture of helium and oxygen (heliox) can lead to high-pressure nervous syndrome, a sort of reverse-anesthetic effect; adding a small amount of nitrogen to the mixture can alleviate the problem. Neon

Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless,

is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and an atomic number of 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in either low-voltage neon glow lamps or in high-voltage discharge tubes or neon advertising signs. It is commercially extracted from air, in which it is found in trace amounts. Neon was discovered when Ramsay chilled a sample of air until it became a liquid, then warmed the liquid and captured the gases as they boiled off. The gases that boiled off, in addition to nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, were krypton, xenon, and neon. The characteristic, brilliant red color that is emitted by gaseous neon when excited electrically was noted immediately; Travers later wrote, "the blaze of crimson light from the tube told its own story and was a sight to dwell upon and never forget." Applications Neon is often used in signs and produces an unmistakable bright reddish-orange light. Although still referred to as "neon", all other colors are generated with the other noble gases or by many colors of fluorescent lighting. Neon is used in vacuum tubes, high-voltage indicators, lightning arrestors, wave meter tubes, television tubes, and helium-neon lasers. Liquefied neon is commercially used as a cryogenic refrigerant in applications not requiring the lower temperature range attainable with more extreme liquid helium refrigeration. Both neon gas and liquid neon are relatively expensive for small quantities, the price of liquid neon can be more than 55 times that of liquid helium. The driver for neon's expense is the rarity of neon, which unlike helium, can only be obtained from air. Argon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table (noble gases). Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93% (9,300 ppm), making it approximately 23.8 times more abundant than carbon dioxide (390 ppm). Nearly all of this argon is radiogenic argon-40 derived from the decay of

potassium-40 in the Earth's crust. In the universe, argon-36 is by far the most common argon isotope, being the preferred argon isotope produced by stellar nucleosynthesis in supernovas. The name "argon" is derived from the Greek word meaning "lazy" or "the inactive one", a reference to the fact that the element undergoes almost no chemical reactions. The complete octet (eight electrons) in the outer atomic shell makes argon stable and resistant to bonding with other elements. Its triple point temperature of 83.8058 K is a defining fixed point in the International Temperature Scale of 1990. Argon is produced industrially by the fractional distillation of liquid air. Argon is mostly used as an inert shielding gas in welding and other hightemperature industrial processes where ordinarily non-reactive substances become reactive; for example, an argon atmosphere is used in graphite electric furnaces to prevent the graphite from burning. Argon gas also has uses in incandescent and fluorescent lighting, and other types of gas discharge tubes. Argon makes a distinctive bluegreen gas laser. Applications Argon is inexpensive since it is a byproduct of the production of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen from a cryogenic air separation unit, both of which are used on a large industrial scale. The other noble gases (except helium) are produced this way as well, but argon is the most plentiful since it has the highest concentration in the atmosphere. The bulk of argon applications arise simply because it is inert and relatively cheap. Krypton chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a member of Group 18 and Period 4 elements. A colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, krypton occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere, is isolated by fractionally distilling liquified air, and is often used with other rare gases in fluorescent lamps. Krypton is inert for most practical purposes. Krypton, like the other noble gases, can be used in lighting and photography. Krypton light has a large number of spectral lines, and krypton's high light output in plasmas allows it to play an important role in many high-powered gas lasers (krypton ion and excimer lasers), which pick out one of the

many spectral lines to amplify. There is also a specific krypton fluoride laser. Applications Krypton's multiple emission lines make ionized krypton gas discharges appear whitish, which in turn makes krypton-based bulbs useful in photography as a brilliant white light source. Krypton is thus used in some types of photographic flashes used in high speed photography. Krypton gas is also combined with other gases to make luminous signs that glow with a bright greenishyellow light. Krypton mixes with argon as the fill gas of energy saving fluorescent lamps. This reduces their power consumption. Unfortunately this also reduces their light output and raises their cost. Krypton costs about 100 times as much as argon. Krypton (along with xenon) is also used to fill incandescent lamps to reduce filament evaporation and allow higher operating temperatures to be used for the filament.

Medical Application Xenon has been used as a general anesthetic. Although it is expensive, anesthesia machines that can deliver xenon are about to appear on the European market, because advances in recovery and recycling of xenon have made it economically viable. Xenon is finding application in treating brain injuries, since it is an antagonist of N-methyl-daspartate receptors (NMDA receptors). These receptors exacerbate the damage from oxygen deprivation and xenon performs better as a neuroprotectant than either ketamine or nitrous oxide, which have undesired side-effects. Xenon gas was added as an ingredient of the ventilation mix for a newborn baby at St. Michael's Hospital, Bristol, England, whose life chances were otherwise very compromised, and was successful, leading to the authorisation of clinical trials for similar cases. The treatment is done simultaneously with cooling the body temperature to 33.5 C. Radon is a chemical element with the atomic number 86, and is represented by the symbol Rn. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days. Radon is one of the densest substances that remains a gas under normal conditions. It is also the only gas under normal conditions that only has radioactive isotopes, and is considered a health hazard due to its radioactivity. Intense radioactivity has also hindered chemical studies of radon and only a few compounds are known Radon is formed as part of the normal radioactive decay chain of uranium and thorium. Uranium and thorium have been around since the earth was formed and their most common isotope has a very long half-life (4.5 billion years). Uranium and thorium, radium, and thus radon, will continue to occur for millions of years at about the same concentrations as they do now As the radioactive gas of radon decays, it produces new radioactive elements called radon daughters or decay products. Radon daughters are solids and stick to surfaces such as dust particles in the air. If contaminated dust is inhaled, these particles can stick to the airways of the lung and increase the risk of developing lung cancer.

A brighter light results which contains more blue than conventional lamps. Krypton has an important role in production and usage of the krypton fluoride laser. The laser has been important in the nuclear fusion energy research community in confinement experiments. The laser has high beam uniformity, short wavelength, and the ability to modify the spot size to track an imploding pellet. Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. The element name is pronounced /znn/ ZEN-on or /zinn/ ZEE-non. A colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas, xenon occurs in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts.[7] Although generally unreactive, xenon can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the formation of xenon hexafluoroplatinate, the first noble gas compound to be synthesized. Xenon is used in flash lamps and arc lamps, and as a general anesthetic. The first excimer laser design used a xenon dimer molecule (Xe2) as its lasing medium,[16] and the earliest laser designs used xenon flash lamps as pumps. Xenon is also being used to search for hypothetical weakly interacting massive particles and as the propellant for ion thrusters in spacecraft.

Radon is responsible for the majority of the public exposure to ionizing radiation. It is often the single largest contributor to an individual's background radiation dose, and is the most variable from location to location. Radon gas from natural sources can accumulate in buildings, especially in confined areas such as attics and basements. It can also be found in some spring waters and hot springs.