XENON

Xenon



Xenon

Origin and History

Xenon was first discovered in England by chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris William Travers on July 12, 1898, after discovering Krypton and Neon. Since Xenon is an odorless and colorless gas that exists only in trace amounts in the atmosphere, it is very difficult to take notice of it. Xenon and other noble gases were discovered by evaporating liquefied air and collecting the residue. By cooling the air to below the boiling point (from gas to liquid), the air would condense to a liquid. The disposable air is then gradually warmed up, vaporizing lighter gases such as oxygen and nitrogen (Zhang, 2010).

The Characteristics of Xenon

Before the anesthetic properties of xenon can be explored, a discussion of its chemical properties is warranted. Xenon was first discovered in 1898 by British chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris W. Trave. Its discovery was made by the repeated fractional distillation of the noble gas krypton.1 Xenon is a naturally occurring element that comprises 0.0000086%, or 0.05 parts per million, of air. Indeed, the rarity of this element is the basis for its name. Xenon derives its name from the Greek word for “stranger”13 and exists naturally as 9 isotopes, the most abundant of which is Xe 132.14 It can be manufactured by the fractional distillation of liquefied air. Commercially, xenon is used in many ways, including in lasers, high-intensity lamps, flash bulbs, x-ray tubes, and medicine (Dingley, 2009).

Manufacturing process of Xenon

The inert gas is a by-product in the fractional distillation of liquefied air. One first obtains a fraction of krypton and xenon, which is separated by a subsequent rectification. Xenon gas can then be confined separately from the atmosphere. Collecting xenon is expensive because there is less than one part per million in volume of the Earth's atmosphere (Nakata, 2008).

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