Argon is a really cool gas
Do you want to know its atomic mass?
It turns out it is about 40
But that is only half the story
It’s also in the noble gas family
And it’s used in lights from here to Miami.

 

 

Commercial uses:
Because argon is very un-reactive and actually stops substances from reacting, it has many uses.  It is most commonly found in light bulbs, because if oxygen filled the light, it would react with the filament.  In a light bulb it also helps spread out the heat given off by the filament.  When dating rocks that contain radioactive potassium, the higher the argon to potassium ratio, the older the rock.

History:
Lord Raleigh and William Ramsay discovered argon when they took all the known elements from air so all that was left was nitrogen.  They then compared the nitrogen sample in air and one from a more pure source.  The one from the air had something else in it.  What was there was named argon.  They thought that it can’t react with anything else, but at very low temperatures, chemical bonds can be formed.

How it’s obtained:
Argon is obtained by liquidizing air and boiling off other elements.  It is not very uncommon, as it is the third most common element in the atmosphere and the atmosphere is about one percent Argon.  The other place it is found is in the earth’s crust.  When a certain rare potassium isotope decays, it turns into Argon.

Industrial uses:
Argon is used when an inert atmosphere is needed.  Inert atmospheres are necessary for certain processes like welding certain metals.  It is also used in growing semiconductor crystals. It also used in Geiger counters, which are used to measure radioactivity.

Physical description:
Argon is clear, tasteless, odorless and completely harmless.  It melts at -189.35°c and boils at -185.85°c.  It is a nonmetal in the noble gas family.  It has an atomic mass of 39.948 and a density of 1.784 grams per liter.

Other information:
Argon will not react at normal temperatures but will form argon fluorohydride (HArF) in very low temperatures.  It has eight valence electrons and is very stable.  Argon was the first noble gas to be discovered and the name argon comes from the Greek word argos meaning lazy.  This refers to its inactivity.

Table
Density 1.784 grams per liter
State at room tempature gas
Family noble gas (18)
Period 3
Electrons 18
Protons 18
Neutrons 22

 

Argon is a noble gas. Another noble gas is neon. To find out more about neon click here.

 

 

Glossary
Inert atmosphere an enviornment filled with an unreactive substance that stops an unwanted reaction
Radioactive something undergoing radioactive decay where an unstable atom emits radiation
Electrons negatively charged particles orbiting around the nucleus of an atom
Protons positively charged particles in the nucleus of an atom
Neutrons neutrally charged particles in the nucleus of an atom
Density mass divided by volume
Semiconductor a semiconductor has electrical conductivity in between an insulator and a conductor

 

Bibliography
 

"It's Elemental - The Element Argon." Science Education at Jefferson Lab. 9 Feb. 2009 <http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele018.html>.

Newton, David E., Chemical Elements From Carbon to Krypton, Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 1999.

Stwertka, Albert, A Guide to the Elements, Second Edition, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Helserman, David L., Exploring Chemical Elements and Their Compounds, McGraw-Till, Inc: 1992.

 


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