The basic facts:
Noble gases carry the trait of not reacting with many elements and Krypton is classified in this group. It is located in Group 18 and Period 4 of the periodic table. Krypton’s symbol is Kr. Krypton’s atomic number is thirty-six and the atomic mass is 83.80. There are thirty-seven different isotopes in the element, krypton.
Scientists that Discovered Krypton:
Morris Travers is a British chemist who was born on January 24, …show more content…
1842, in London, England. He went to London’s University College in 1889, and worked for Sir William Ramsey. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1893. He attended the University of Nancy in France to study the field of organic chemistry, but soon came back to work for Ramsey.
Sir William Ramsey was a Scottish chemist. He was born on October 2, 1852, in Glasgow, Scotland. Although he was more active in physical chemistry, he was recognized more for inorganic chemistry due to his discovery of additional gases. Ramsey received many awards, however, one most notable was the Noble Peace Prize in chemistry, in 1904.
The Discovery of Krypton:
Travers helped aid in the discovery of krypton, and Ramsey was more the boss of their research. Ramsey became eager to find an unknown gas in the air with a greater density when Lord Rayleigh started observing how nitrogen reacted to air. During the process, Ramsey found helium, which was originally said to only exist around the sun. He was more excited to discover argon because he was able to start to anticipate the elements that would go into the new group of the periodic table. Other elements besides just krypton that were discovered in the process were neon and xenon. Krypton was discovered on May 30, 1898.
What does krypton look like? Krypton makes up only one part of a million of the gases of the earth’s atmosphere. Every day krypton is found in the earth’s atmosphere. Krypton is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless element; therefore, cannot be seen by the human’s natural eye, nor felt by touch. If you want to be able to see krypton it needs to react with other elements. It will glow with a smoky-white light when an “electric current is sent through a container of a low pressure krypton” (http://education.jlab.org/qa/krypton.html). The krypton gas becomes a plasma which helps make it glow.
Krypton’s physical and chemical properties: Krypton is at its most gaseous state at room temperature. The melting point of krypton is minus 157.36 degrees Celsius and its boiling point is minus 153.22 degrees Celsius. Krypton’s triple point is minus 157 degrees Celsius. Its density is 0.003733 grams per cubic centimeter. Krypton is diamagnetic and has a face-centered cubic crystal lattice.
Krypton has six stable isotopes and thirty unstable isotopes. On the Pauling scale Krypton’s electronegativity is 3.00. It has two oxidation states and it is an unreactive gas.
The electron make up: Krypton’s electron configuration is 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p6 . It has a value of 3.00 on the Pauling scale of electronegativity. Its first ionization energy is 1350.8 kJ mol 1. Krypton has eight electrons on 4s and 4p sublevels which help make it stable and nonreactive. It has eight valence electrons. Krypton is inactive with many other elements because it has a full outer shell of electrons.
What makes Krypton react? Since Krypton is a noble gas it does not react with very many elements. For example, krypton does not react with the compounds, water and acids. However, krypton like most elements, reacts with fluorine. When krypton and fluorine are combined they are in an “electrical-discharged tube at minus 183 degrees Celsius” (https://www.britannica.com/science/krypton-chemical-element). The combination of the two is called krypton difluoride. Krypton difluoride remains colorless and decomposes at room temperature. Krypton can also bond with oxygen and nitrogen, and still be isolated.
Usefulness of krypton? Krypton is used in high speed photography for the photographic flashes because it stabilizes the heat of the flash to keep it from burning up.
Krypton is also used for fluorescent lighting. The fluorescent lights give off a glow. Krypton has also been used for measurement purposes. It was used in 1960 to find the length of a meter by using the krypton isotope. Instead they find length of a meter by light in a vacuum. Krypton fluoride is used in most lasers. A fun fact about krypton is the Russians used radioactive krypton during the Cold War for nuclear production. The second fun fact is its isotopes, Krypton-83, can be used for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology.
What does the Material Safety Data Sheet say about krypton? Krypton is a not a flammable gas. There is no danger when it is digested, exposed to the skin, and eyes. Some danger can come when gas from krypton is inhaled. Some examples of side effects from krypton being inhaled are headaches, dizziness, and lack of oxygen. Seek a physician if experiencing any of these side effects.
What does the Material Safety Data Sheet say about
Krypton-85? Krypton can be stable, but its isotope is a radioactive gas which is Krypton-85. One source said “Concentrations of Kr-85 are 30% higher at the North Pole than they are at the South Pole. This is due to convective mixing.” (http://www.softschools.com/facts/periodic_table/krypton_facts/214/). Krypton-85 can be made by volcanoes, earthquakes, nuclear power plants, and nuclear explosions. They have started trying to manufacture it as a byproduct of nuclear fission. When Krypton-85 starts to decay it creates Rubidium-85. When you are exposed to a large amount of Krypton-85 it could be dangerous to your health. You can be poisoned by the gas when you inhale it. Some examples of Krypton-85 side effects include mental failure, not being able to perform regular tasks, and death. Exposure can lead to frostbite. It is impossible for it to be ingested.