Xenon
Xenón (Xe, Z=54)
- Date
- 1898 · confidence high
- Place
- University College, London, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- William Ramsay and Morris Travers
- People
- 👤 Morris Travers1872–1961👤 William Ramsay1852–1916
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Ramsay and Travers found it in the krypton residue using a new liquid-air machine, by its blue spectral lines.
The name comes from the Greek 'xenos', strange.
What it led to
- The first noble gas compound (XePtF6, Bartlett 1962)
- Xenon lamps and car headlights
- Ion thrusters for spacecraft and anaesthesia
Built on
- Liquefaction of air
- Spectroscopy
Made possible
- Xenon ion engine
- Xenon arc lamp