What makes noble gases special

Krypton is used to produce white light for photography — again an electrical current is passed through the gas so it emits light. Radon is a radioactive element. Radon gas is formed by decay of other radioactive elements and the concentration in the environment depends upon the types of rocks on which you live.

For example, the granite in Dartmoor contains small amounts of uranium that forms radon, which can accumulate in buildings and drinking water. This leads to an increased risk of cancer. This free course, The science of nuclear energy, will delve into the science behind nuclear power and explain what happens inside a nuclear reactor and what it means for an element to be radioactive.

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The noble gases are a group of chemical elements that make up Group 18 on the periodic table. These gases all have similar properties under standard conditions: they are all odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low chemical reactivity. The properties of the noble gases can be well explained by modern theories of atomic structure. It has been possible to prepare only a few hundred noble gas compounds. The noble gases have weak interatomic forces and consequently have very low melting and boiling points.

They are all monatomic gases under standard conditions, including those with larger atomic masses than many other elements that are solids under standard conditions. The noble gas atoms, as do the atoms in most other groups on the periodic table, increase steadily in atomic radius from one period to the next due to an increasing number of electrons. The size of the atom is related to several properties.

For example, the ionization potential decreases with an increasing radius because the valence electrons in the larger noble gases are farther away from the nucleus and so are not held as tightly together by the atom.

Radon difluoride RnF 2 is one of the few reported compounds of radon. Radon reacts readily with fluorine to form a solid compound, but this decomposes on attempted vaporization and its exact composition is uncertain.

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