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Article: Noble Gases
- Article from:
- Chemistry: Foundations and Applications
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Noble Gases
The noble gases, also known as rare or
inert
gases, form Group 18 of the Periodic Table, embedded between the alkali
metals
and the
halogens
. The elements helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon are the members of this group.
Discovery
In 1785 English physicist and chemist Henry Cavendish performed an experiment in which he passed electric sparks through an air bubble enclosed by a soap solution (NaOH). While nitrogen and oxygen were absorbed by the solution, about 1/120th of the volume of the original bubble remained
—
it is now known that the residual gas was mainly argon. However, it was a century later before argon was finally recognized as a new ...