Noble gases as a new periodic group
Familia de los gases nobles como nuevo grupo periódico
- Date
- 1894-1898 · confidence high
- Place
- University College London and Terling Place (Rayleigh), England
- Credited to
- William Ramsay and Lord Rayleigh
- People
- 👤 Lord Rayleigh1842–1919👤 William Ramsay1852–1916
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Ramsay and Rayleigh isolate argon from air and Ramsay completes the group (helium, neon, krypton, xenon), adding a whole column of zero valence to the periodic table. It is catalogued as the discovery of a chemical group and of the idea of chemical inertness.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1904 (Ramsay) and in Physics 1904 (Rayleigh).
What it led to
- Octet theory (closed shell)
- Neon lighting
- Cryogenics with helium
- Noble gas compounds (1962)
Built on
- Cavendish's 1% residue (1785)
- spectroscopy
- liquefaction of gases
Made possible
- Neon lamp1910
- neon lamps
- inert atmospheres for welding
- helium refrigeration