Xenon

iso	NA	half-life	DM	DE	DP
¹²⁴Xe	0.1%	Xe is stable with 70 neutrons
¹²⁶Xe	0.09%	Xe is stable with 72 neutrons
¹²⁸Xe	1.91%	Xe is stable with 74 neutrons
¹²⁹Xe	26.4%	Xe is stable with 75 neutrons
¹³⁰Xe	4.1%	Xe is stable with 76 neutrons
¹³¹Xe	21.29%	Xe is stable with 77 neutrons
¹³²Xe	26.9%	Xe is stable with 78 neutrons
¹³⁴Xe	10.4%	Xe is stable with 80 neutrons
¹³⁶Xe	8.9%	2.36 E21 y	Beta^-	no data	¹³⁶Ba

SI units & STP are used except where noted.

Xenon is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. A colorless, very heavy, odorless noble gas, xenon occurs in the earth's atmosphere in trace amounts and was part of the first noble-gas compound synthesized.

Table of contents

1 Notable Characteristics
2 Applications
3 History
4 Occurrence
5 Compounds
6 Isotopes
7 Precautions
8 External links

Notable Characteristics

Xenon is a member of the zero-valence elements that are called noble or inert gases. The word "inert" is no longer used to describe this chemical series since some zero valence elements do form compounds. In a vacuum tube xenon emits a beautiful blue glow when the gas is excited by electrical discharge. Using several hundred kilobars of pressure metallic xenon has been made.

Applications

This gas is most widely and most famously used in light-emitting devices such as bactericidal lamps, electron tubes, stroboscopic lamps and photo flash units, and lamps that are used to excite ruby lasers that then generate coherent light. Other uses;

Used as a general anaesthetic.
In nuclear energy applications it is used in bubble chambers, probes, and in other areas where a high molecular weight is a desirable quality.
Its perxenates are used as oxidizing agents in analytical chemistry.
The isotope Xe-133 is useful as a radioisotope.

History

Xenon (Greek xenon meaning "stranger") was discovered by William Ramsay and Morris Travers in 1898 in the residue left over from evaporating components of liquid air.

Occurrence

It is a trace gas in Earth's atmosphere, occurring in one part in twenty million. The element is obtained commercially through extraction from the residues of liquefied air. This noble gas is naturally found in gases emitted from some mineral springs. Xe-133 and Xe-135 are synthesized by neutron irradiation within air-cooled nuclear reactors.

Compounds

Before 1962, xenon and the other noble gases gases were generally considered to be chemically inert and not able to form compoundss. Evidence since this time has been mounting that xenon, along with other noble gases, do in fact form compounds. Some of the xenon compounds are; difluoride, hexafluoride, sodium perxenate, tetrafluoride, xenon deuterate, xenon hydrate. The highly explosive compound xenon trioxide has also been made. There are at least 80 xenon compounds in which fluorine or oxygen are bonded to xenon. Some compounds of xenon are colored but most are colorless.

Isotopes

Naturally occurring xenon is made of eight stable and one slightly radioactive isotopes. Beyond these stable forms, there are 20 unstable isotopes that have been studied. Xe-129 is produced by beta decay of I-129 (half-life: 16 million years); Xe-131, Xe-132, Xe-134 and Xe-136 are fission products of both U-238 and Pu-244. Because Xe is a tracer for two parent isotopes, Xe isotope ratios in meteorites are a powerful tool for studying the formation of the solar system. The I-Xe method of dating gives the time elapsed between nucleosynthesis and the condensation of a solid object from the solar nebula. Xenon isotopes are also a powerful tool for understanding terrestrial differentiation. Excess Xe-129 found in carbon dioxide well gases from New Mexico was believed to be from the decay of mantle-derived gases soon after Earth's formation.

Precautions

The gas can be safely kept in normal sealed glass containers at standard temperature and pressure. Xenon is non-toxic, but many of its compounds are highly toxic due to their strong oxidation properties.