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History and Production
Derived from Greek xenon, meaning stranger. The gas was discovered by W. Ramsey and M.W. Travers in 1898 by the low temperature distillation of liquid air. The commercial source can be obtained by fractional distillation of air. It is used to make stroboscopic lamps, excitation of ruby lasers and also
discharge tubes which give a blue glow.
Physical Data
It is colorless, odorless gas. Due to its inert nature the gas is found in its elemental form in air (0.087 ppm by volume).
Interatomic distance: 420 pm (van der Waals)
Melting point: -111.79°C
Boiling point: -108.12°C
Thermal conductivity/Wm-1K-1: 0.00569 (27°C)
Density/kgm-3: 3540 (m.p.), 2939 (b.p.), 5.8971 (0°C)
Standard Thermodynamic Data (atomic gas)
Enthalpy of formation: 0.0 kJ/mol
Gibbs free energy of formation: -
Entropy: 169.7 J/mol K
Heat capacity: 20.8 J/mol K
Electronic data
Electronic configuration: [Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p6 = [Xe]
Term symbol: 1S0
Electron affinity: not stable Electronegativity (Pauline): 2.60
Ionization energy (first, second, third): 1170.35, 2046.44, 3099.40 kJ/mol
Chemical properties
It is the most 'reactive' among the inert gas members. A variety of compounds such as oxides, fluorides (XeF4, XeF2) metal complexes (XePtF6, XeRhF6) have been prepared in the laboratory.
most of these compounds are unstable (though more stable than other lighter noble gas counterparts) and strong oxidizing characteristics.
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