October 31 - November 3, 2004
Element of the Day
Friday, October 29
The
element name comes from the Greek word for stranger. Xenon was discovered
through the study of liquefied air.
Discovered by: Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris M. Travers, an English chemist, on July 12, 1898, shortly after their discovery of the elements krypton and neon
Uses: Xenon produces a brilliant white flash of light when it is excited electrically. The gas is used in making electron tubes, stroboscopic lamps, bactericidal lamps, and lamps used to excite ruby lasers that generate coherent light. Xenon is used in the nuclear energy field in bubble chambers, probes, and other applications where a high molecular weight is of value.
Due to its high atomic weight, xenon ions were used as a fuel in an experimental ion engine aboard the space probe Deep Space 1.
Once thought to be completely inert, xenon will form compounds, usually with fluorine, oxygen and platinum. XePtF6, XeF2, XeF4, XeF6 and XeO4 are some of the xenon compounds that have been formed.