180 Interesting Facts About Argon

Facts About Argon: Argon is a chemical element whose symbol is Ar. It has an atomic number of 18 and is third in the periodic table in the series of inert gas elements or ideal gases. Argon is the third most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere, accounting for 0.93% of the atmosphere, making it more common than carbon dioxide. Most of this argon is radiogenic argon-40 released from the decay of potassium-40 in the Earth's crust. Argon-36 is the most common form of argonon in the world, produced during the nucleosynthesis process of supernovae.

Interesting Facts About Argon - Ar or Atomic Numer 18

The symbol for argon is Ar.
Argon has three stable isotopes.
The atomic number for argon is 18.
Argon has no known biological role.
Argon is a gas at room temperature.
It makes up 1.28% of the Earth's atmosphere.
It was the first noble gas to be discovered.
The electrons per shell for argon are 2, 8, 8.
The standard atomic weight of argon is 39.948 u.
Argon is a chemical element on the periodic table.
Argon is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas.
The first ever noble gas to be discovered was Argon.
The electron configuration for Argon is [Ne] 3s2 3p2.
Over 99% of the natural argon found on Earth is 40Ar.
It creates a very distinctly colored blue-green laser.
The three stable argon isotopes are 36Ar, 38Ar and 40Ar.
Henry Cavendish proposed in 1785 that argon might exist.
Argon is used to cool the heads of heat-seeking missiles.
Argon is in the p-block on the periodic table of elements.
Argon is the go-to gas when an inert environment is needed.
At room temperature, Argon never produces any stable compound.
Argon is produced industrially by cryogenically distilling air.
In the poultry industry, the gas is used for asphyxiating birds.

Amazing Facts About Argon

Argon is in the noble gas element category on the periodic table.
Argon-39 is used much like carbon-14 to date water and ice samples.
Argon is the 3rd most abundant gas found in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Worldwide over 771 million tons of argon gas are produced annually.
Scientists make use of Argon for production of Scintillation Light.
Argon is a group 18 chemical element, which is the noble gases group.
Double paned windows use argon between the panes to act as an insulator.
Argon’s density can be used in an enclosed environment to prevent decay.
Argon was predicted to exist in 1785 by English scientist Henry Cavendish.
Argon is 38% denser than air, so it remains close to the ground when used.
For this reason, it is used to displace oxygen and to force out moist air.
In the metal industry, Argon acts as an inert gas for cutting and welding.
Argon is chemically inert and commonly used to create an inert environment.
Argon has replaced helium for that purpose, as it does not leak as quickly.
In his paper, Rayleigh stated that pure Nitrogen was abnormally light Nitrogen.
Did you know Argon is 500 times more common than another noble gas called Neon?
Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay actually discovered and named argon in 1894.
Argon is a colorless, odorless, and non-toxic material in all three of its states.
Argon burns blue, so it is used in what is typically referred to as neon lighting.
Argon is a period 3 chemical element, which is the third row on the periodic table.
Argon is added into incandescent light bulbs to protect the filament from oxidation.

Awesome Facts About Argon

NASA probes have discovered argon in Mercury's atmosphere and on Saturn's moon Titan.
Incandescent lightbulbs are filled with argon to prevent the filaments from oxidizing.
Did you know Argon is 24 times more common in our atmosphere compared to Carbon Dioxide?
Argon’s density makes it a great insulator and is injected in between double pan windows.
The eight electrons in the outer shell of Argen mean that it does not form compounds readily.
Did you know that when Argon is placed in an electric field, it produces a violet/lilac glow?
Despite Cavendish’s failure (or success – whatever you call it), he was way ahead of his time.
Prior to 1957, the element symbol for argon was A. The IUPAC changed it to the Ar we know today.
People didn’t know much about air, and Sir Cavendish was not happy about this lack of knowledge.
Argon is the third most prevalent gas in the Earth's atmosphere, found at 9,300 parts per million.
In the year 1892 came famous scientist – Lord Rayleigh. His original name was John William Strutt.
Ramsay immediately knew that he discovered a completely new element. He notified this to Rayleigh.
Argon’s density can displace oxygen, which makes it a common component in a fire-suppression system.
Argon emits a blue-violet glow when it is excited. Argon lasers exhibit a characteristic blue-green glow.

Scientific Facts About Argon

Argon is used in fire-suppression systems. The argon displaces the oxygen in a room and combustion stops.
Argos in English means Lazy or Inactive. The name was apt because Argon did not react with anything else.
In the commercial production of Argon, liquefied air is put through fractional distillation to get Argon.
After Sir Cavendish completed all the steps, what was left behind in the apparatus was a small gas bubble.
He used Magnesium to react Nitrogen with it. The reaction resulted in the removal of Nitrogen from the air.
Argon is a colorless, odorless gas at room temperature. When ionized, argon emits a distinctive violet glow.
This process is similar to the fractional distillation of air that is used to produce commercial argon today.
One of the most important Argon uses comes in winemaking, Argon is important. It acts as a barrier to Oxygen.
Since Argon has low thermal conductivity, it is put between glass panes for a double as well as triple glazing.
It is almost 24 times as common as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and more than 500 times are common as neon.
Even though it is not poisonous, it can still cause suffocation because it displaces air due to its high density.
Argon was discovered and isolated in 1894 by British scientist John W. Strutt and Scottish chemist William Ramsay.
To ensure that all traces of Oxygen are removed from the apparatus, he further made use of Potassium Polysulfides.
Cavendish did not pay that much importance to the part of the air that was not Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide or Nitrogen.
It was this paper written by Lord Rayleigh that attracted the interest of William Ramsay – a chemist from Scotland.
We consider Argon as non-toxic. However, despite being non-toxic, Argon can lead to suffocation in enclosed spaces.

Mind-Blowing Facts About Argon

The density of Argon is 38% greater than that of air. So, the Argon present in the air remains close to the ground.
Did you know commercial production of Argon yields 700,000 tonnes of the gas every single year throughout the world?
Argon makes up about 0.00015% of the Earth’s crust, making it the most abundant noble gas found in the Earth’s crust.
Argon is 38% more dense than air, and even though it’s a non-toxic gas it can cause asphyxiation in an enclosed area.
If we move out of Earth, Argon-36 is the most abundant isotope. This isotope (that is Argon-36) is produced in stars.
Argon is added to incandescent lights to protect the filament from oxygen. It is also widely used in fluorescent bulbs.
He used the gas to measure its spectrum only to find that the spectrum did not match the spectrum of any known element.
Argon only accounts for 0.94% by volume of the gasses in the atmosphere. Yet, it is the third most plentiful gas in air.
Using aqueous Sodium Hydroxide would also ensure that any Carbon Dioxide present in the apparatus would also be removed.
According to Cavendish, the bubble did not constitute of any more than 120th of the total phlogisticated air (Nitrogen).
Important documents like the Declaration of Independence are stored in sealed, argon-filled glass cases to prevent decay.
In their combined paper, Ramsay and Rayleigh stated that the newly discovered element did not react with any known thing.
The original United States Declaration of Independence is stored in a case filled with argon gas to protect it from decay.
In nature, Potassium-40 isotopes trapped in Earth Crust decays to Argon-40. Most of the Argon escapes into the atmosphere.
In particular, Cavendish was very dissatisfied with the lack of information about that part of the air that was not Oxygen.
Did you know Argon is also present on Titan (satellite of Saturn) and in the atmosphere of Mercury? NASA probes found this?
Did you know that 1.6% of the atmosphere of Mars is made of Argon? Compared to that, Earth’s atmosphere is made of 0.94% Argon.

Wierd Facts About Argon

In the semiconductor industry, Argon provides the neutral atmosphere that is needed for growth of Germanium and Silicon crystals.
To fulfill his quest, Cavendish started experimenting. He made Nitrogen and Oxygen in the air to react by passing an electric spark.
When such a big star enters the Silicon-burning phase, one alpha particle adds to the nucleus of Silicon-32, resulting in Sulfur-36.
The following year in April 1894, Rayleigh came up with an academic paper, in which he elaborated on the problem he faced with Nitrogen.
The reaction led to the formation of Nitrogen Oxides. However, to ensure that the whole of Nitrogen was used up, he added more of Oxygen.
Once the problem was posted, it became an opportunity for any scientist to discover a completely new element. Sadly enough, no one responded.
The scientist even went to the extent of storing pure Nitrogen for eight months to find out whether the gas would increase in density or not.
Their experiment was to remove all of the nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen dioxide from pure air, and isolate the remaining gas.
Another alpha particle then adds to Sulfur-36 nucleus to form Argon-36. Some of the Argon-36 can also become Calcium-40 by taking an alpha particle.
How much of Argon is present in the atmosphere of our Earth? Hold your breath! The total volume of Argon in the atmosphere is 65 trillion metric tons!
It took scientists more than 100 years after Cavendish’s experiment to figure out that there was something about the air that was not making any sense.
Rayleigh was confused and started looking for an answer. In his quest, he announced the problem to the rest of the world by writing about it in Nature.
Most of the argon on Earth comes from the radioactive decay of potassium-40 into argon-40. Over 99% of the argon on earth consists of the isotope Ar-40.
It is a known fact that Nitrogen oxides are all acidic by nature. To remove all the Nitrogen oxides, the scientist made use of aqueous Sodium Hydroxide.
The proportion of Argon present in the crust of our Earth is 1.2 parts per million. The proportion of Argon present in seawater is 0.45 parts per million.
Argon's most common isotope, Ar-40, became a part of the Earth's atmosphere after K-40, a radioactive isotope of potassium, decayed from the Earth's crust.

Historical Facts About Argon

The two scientists came up with a combined academic paper in the year 1895 in which they notified the rest of the world that they discovered a new element.
If Argon is required, the same fractional distillation process is used, but after that, catalytic burning is used for removing any trace amounts of Oxygen.
The hint about the existence of the element came way back in the year 1785. The scientist who hinted towards the existence of Argon was Sir Henry Cavendish.
Ramsay continued with his experiments, and in August 1894, he did something interesting. He took air and removed Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, and Oxygen from it.
This amazing find managed to upset many archeologists because it simply went against the existing notion, discarding hundreds of literary work done previously.
It was because of this unreactive nature of the new element; the two scientists named the element as ‘Argon.’ The term ‘Argon’ comes from ‘Argos’ – a Greek word.
Ramsay noted that when all known gases were removed, another gas was left behind. This gas made up 1/8th of the total mass of air that he used for his experiment.
What about Argon-Argon dating? We know that Argon-39 is radioactive and Argon-40 is stable. Scientists make use of Argon-Argon technique for more precision dating.
Lord Rayleigh continued experimenting only to find that the Nitrogen that he sourced from various Nitrogen compounds was always nearly 0.5 times Nitrogen found in the air.
Potassium-40 (which is radioactive) is known for decaying into Argon-40 (stable isotope), and Calcium-40 (stable isotope). Half-Life of Potassium-40 is 1.25 billion years.
Divide that volume of Argon in the atmosphere, and we get 9+ metric tons of Argon for every single person on the planet. Rayleigh was not wrong during his Nobel Prize speech!
Before 1957, ‘A’ was used as the chemical symbol of Argon. IUPAC, however, decided to change the symbol in 1957. The new symbol that came into existence for the gas was ‘Ar.’
Argon is extensively used as a preservative. It is used for displacing moisture and Oxygen present in packaging material so that the shelf life of the packaged food increases.
This observation led Cavendish to conclude that at least 99.3% of the air was made up of Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, and Oxygen. The maximum of 0.7% was made up of something else.
Cavendish knew that air consisted of Nitrogen as a component. He also knew that the Nitrogen present in the air could be reacted with Oxygen to form what is known as Nitrous Acid.
The element symbol for argon used to be A. In 1957, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) changed argon's symbol to Ar and mendelevium's symbol from Mv to Md.

Cool Facts About Argon

It is because of this long Half-Life of Potassium-40 that dating of much older rocks and materials is now possible by measuring the ratio of Potassium-40 to Argon-40 in very old rocks.
As of now, scientists have failed to find out how Argon helps, but they think that Argon works on neuroreceptors and prevent brain cells from self-destructing when brain damage occurs.
Did you know that majority of the Argon that is present on our Earth comes from radioactive decay of Potassium-40? 99% of the Argon we find on Earth is Argon-40 produced from Potassium-40.
Did you know that a research review of February 2014 says that Argon can be a potential means for significantly limiting brain damage as a result of Oxygen deprivation or traumatic injuries?
Argon is a noble gas. One of the most interesting Argon properties is that has no color, no odor, and it is not flammable (in all three states – solid, liquid, and gas). It is very unreactive.
Because Carbon dating is often inaccurate, scientists often go for Potassium-Argon dating or Argon-Argon dating. These two methods allow scientists to find the age of much older rocks or things.
Though Argon is very unreactive, it is not totally inert. Argon produces Argon Fluorohydride (HArF) after photolysis of Hydrogen Fluoride (at a temperature of 7.5 Kelvin) in a matrix of solid Argon.
Did you know that scientists used Potassium-Argon dating followed by Argon-Argon dating to find that Homo erectus (an extinct species of archaic humans) was present in Java some 1.8 million years ago?
Do all stars produce Argon-36? The answer is ‘No.’ Any star which has a mass of at least 11 times more (can be greater) than the mass of our Sun, produces Argon-36 and that too in its Silicon-burning phase.
After conducting experiments with great precision for ten years in a row, Lord Rayleigh concluded that irrespective of the method of preparing Oxygen, it turned out to be denser that Hydrogen by 15.882 times.
Argon has many uses. For instance, in scientific research, Argon gas is directly used for searching dark matter! Scientists also use the gas in its liquid form as a target for what we know as neutrino experiments.
The element name "argon" comes from the Greek word argos, which means inactive. This refers to the element's resistance to forming chemical bonds.Argon is considered to be chemically inert at room temperature and pressure.
The fractional distillation takes place inside a cryogenic air separation unit. In this process, liquid Nitrogen (boiling point of 77.3 K) is removed from Argon (boiling temperature is 87.3 K). Liquid Oxygen boils at 90.2 K.
William Ramsay was the person who was responsible for either discovering or co-discovering most of the noble gases that we know today. He did not discover Radon, but he did discover/co-discover Xenon, Krypton, Neon, and Helium.
Rayleigh, in his Nobel Prize speech, said that no one should consider Argon as a rare gas because the room (in which the ceremony was taking place) can very easily contain more Argon (by weight) than what a single person can carry.
Argon has some important medical uses. Doctors use the liquid form of the element for destroying various tissues like cancer cells. There is a medical procedure known as argon-enhanced-coagulation (a method of controlling bleeding).
Cavendish failed to find anything else about that ‘something else’ simply because it would take another 85 years for making some significant advances in spectroscopy. Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff would make advances in spectroscopy.

Mysterious Facts About Argon

Did you know that Argon was not the element whose symbol was changed in 1957? Another element called Mendelevium received a new symbol that same year. Previously Mendelevium was denoted as ‘Mv.’ The new symbol that IUPAC selected was ‘Md.’
Have you seen Neon lights? They have orange-red glow because that is the glow that Neon produces. However, if you see a Neon light with a blue glow, you should immediately know that Argon is present in the light. The blue glow comes from Argon.
Even Ramsay was aware of the problem that Rayleigh noticed. The two then started experimenting together (albeit in their own countries). Of course, the two scientists stayed in close contact to ensure that they are aware of each other’s progress.
Cavendish came up with a thought. He thought that if the part of the air that is Oxygen or Carbon Dioxide can be reacted with Oxygen in the air to get Nitrous Acid, he will know for sure that the air is made of Nitrogen, Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide.
The ‘something else’ that Cavendish found was unreactive – very unreactive. It is this nature of the ‘something else’ that allowed him to find it in the first place. Unfortunately, because the ‘something else’ was not reactive, Cavendish could not find anything else.
The archeologists who found about the existence of Homo erectus some 1.8 million years ago, analyzed the volcanic pumice present inside the skulls they found. The analysis of the volcanic pumice using Potassium-Argon followed by Argon-Argon dating allowed the scientists to obtain precision dating.
Argon is a colorless, flavorless, odorless noble gas. Unlike some other gases, it remains colorless even in liquid and solid form. It is nonflammable and nontoxic. However, since argon is 38% more dense than air, it present an asphyxiation risk because it can displace oxygenated air in enclosed spaces.
The most abundant isotope of argon in the universe is argon-36, which is made when stars with a mass about 11 times greater than the Sun are in their silicon-burning phase. In this phase, an alpha particle (helium nucleus) is added to a silicon-32 nucleus to make sulfur-34, which adds an alpha particle to become argon-36. Some of the argon-36 adds an alpha particle to become calcium-40. In the universe, argon is quite rare.
Do you know what Carbon dating is? There is an isotope of Carbon called Carbon-14 (represented as 14C). Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope that decays. This decaying property of 14C is used for finding the age of various things. The problem with 14C is that its Half-Life is 5730 years. It is because of this small Half-Life, Carbon dating is often not useful for finding the age of things that are older than 60 thousand years.
Argon is the most abundant noble gas. It accounts for about 0.94% of the Earth's atmosphere and about 1.6% of the Martian atmosphere. The thin atmosphere of the planet Mercury is about 70% argon. Not counting water vapor, argon is the third most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere, after nitrogen and oxygen. It is produced from fractional distillation of liquid air. In all cases, the most abundant isotope of argon on the planets is Ar-40.
Because noble gas atoms have a complete valence electron shell, they are not very reactive. Argon does not readily form compounds. No stable compounds are known at room temperature and pressure, although argon fluorohydride (HArF) has been observed at temperatures below 17K. Argon forms clathrates with water. Ions, such as ArH+, and complexes in the excited state, such as ArF, have been seen. Scientists predict stable argon compounds should exist, altho
Argon was the first discovered noble gas. Henry Cavendish had suspected the element's existence in 1785 from his examination of samples of air. Independent research by H.F. Newall and W.N. Hartley in 1882 revealed a spectral line that could not be assigned to any known element. The element was isolated and officially discovered in air by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay in 1894. Rayleigh and Ramsay removed the nitrogen, oxygen, water, and carbon dioxide and examined the remaining gas. Although other elements were present in the residue of air, they accounted for very little of the total mass of the sample.
Argon has many uses. It's found in laser, plasma balls, light bulbs, rocket propellant, and glow tubes. It's used as a protective gas for welding, storing sensitive chemicals, and protecting materials. Sometimes pressurized argon is used as a propellant in aerosol cans. Argon-39 radioisotope dating is used to date the age of ground water and ice core samples. Liquid argon is used in cryosurgery, to destroy cancerous tissue. Argon plasma beams and laser beams are also used in medicine. Argon may be used to make a breathing mix called Argox to help remove dissolved nitrogen from the blood during decompression, as from deep-sea diving. Liquid argon is used in scientific experiments, including neutrino experiments and dark matter searches. Although argon is an abundant element, it has no known biological functions.

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