Preston+Webb+-+Krypton

Krypton...#36

When you think of krypton, most people think of the green rock that weakens superman. But no, krypton in an element. The atomic number for Krypton is number 36 with 47 neutrons in it's 4 energy levels. Krypton is in Period 4 and Group 18 in the Periodic Table. It is a colorless gas, a noble gas in fact, making it stable. The atomic mass of Krypton is 83.8 AMU with a melting point of -250.95999˚F and boiling point of -244.12˚F. The word Krypton comes from the Greek word for hidden, kryptos. Krypton was called this because it was once thought to be inert and had no formal uses. But Krypton is used more than you might think.

Krypton came on the scene May 30, 1898. It was first discovered by William Ramsay and Morris M. Travers. Ramsay was a Scottish chemist, and Travers an English chemist. They were studying liquified air, Krypton was left in the residue of the liquified air after most of the liquid air had boiled away. They found and concluded that Krypton is obtained by distillation from liquid air. A few weeks later, Neon was found by preforming the same procedure that was used to discover Krypton. William Ramsay was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his findings of noble gases, which in fact did include Krypton.

Krypton has a few uses, some that can be practical everyday uses, and some...not so much. Fun fact, Krypton is the rarest element in the Earth’s atmosphere and Krypton-85 in the atmosphere can be used to detect the presence of secret nuclear weapons research and production facilities. Krypton is mostly used in fluorescent lightbulbs and in photography flash lamps for high-speed photography. One of the most important uses of Krypton is the lighting of airport runway lights. And Krypton is also used in ion lasers. When it comes to many everyday household uses, Krypton is in fact inert.

Krypton is made up of six stable and naturally occurring isotopes. Kr 81 is the most naturally occurring isotope of Krypton. Kr81 is radioactive, and has a half-life of 230,000 years. The Kr 81 isotope can also be released during a nuclear explosion, as well as being used to date groundwater that is hundreds of thousands of years old.

As you can see, Krypton can be used in many different ways, but in others can be pretty useless. It was discovered first by William Ramsay and Morris Travers while preforming an experiment. Krypton is a noble gas, non-toxic, and is number 36 on the periodic table. It can be used for lighting airport runways, your lightbulbs at your home, or creating the flash for your school pictures. It is colorless and has 6 naturally occurring isotopes, Kr 81 being the most abundant and useful one of the bunch. It can be used in nuclear bombs, as well as dating ground water that is hundreds of thousands of years old. No, Krypton is not a green rock that can weaken a fictional character, but it can do more than you might think.



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Citations

Bentor, Yinon. __Chemical Element.com - Krypton__. Sep. 19, 2013 < [] >.

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"The Element Krypton." //It's Elemental - //. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2013.

__[]__ "Krypton." Chemicool Periodic Table. Chemicool.com. 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 9/19/2013