Want to Know it? Answers to life's questions

Have a Question?

If you have a question you can search for the answer below!

Who Discovered Argon

17 Mar, 2008 Who discovered

Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar. Its atomic number is 18 and is in group 18 of the periodic table, making it a noble gas. Argon is the most abundant noble gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. But who discovered argon? This article will answer exactly that question and also look at seven interesting facts about argon.

Who Discovered Argon
In 1785, Henry Cavendish suspected that there was a very unreactive gas in the Earth’s atmosphere but he couldn’t identify it. In 1882, H.F. Newall and W.N. Hartley both looked at the color spectrum for air and found some lines that they couldn’t account for. They could not identify the element responsible for these strange lines in the spectrum. We now know that argon makes those particular lines in the color spectrum. Only in 1894 was argon discovered. Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay removed all the oxygen and nitrogen from a sample of air and discovered argon. So now you know who discovered argon. Now let’s look at six fast facts about argon.

Six Facts about Argon
Fact 1: Argon was named after the Greek work ‘argon’ which means ‘lazy one’. This name was given in reference to its chemical inactivity.

Fact 2: Argon is colorless, tasteless, odorless and non-toxic in both gas form and liquid form. It is inert (unreactive) in almost all forms and conditions, forming no stable compounds at room temperature.

Fact 3: Argon is slightly soluble in water. It has the same solubility as oxygen gas, and is three times more soluble that nitrogen gas.

Fact 4: While argon is almost completely unreactive, researchers have determined that it can form argon hydrofluoride (HArF) in specific conditions.

Fact 5: The planet Mercury has a very thin atmosphere that is believed to contain up to 70% argon.

Fact 6: Argon, like many noble gases, is used in welding.

(26) Comments

  2. Dane Tasker

    Thanks a lot guys:)

    By the way, nice links!
    and also, i would like to thank you for helping me do my science assignment.
    (I’m in Year Eight)

    Laters

  3. stacey

    wow i like this website
    cos it’s really direct and gets to the point
    unlike others that just go on and on about nothing
    you helped me a lot!!
    thanx a bunch!

  4. Kiri Evans

    im in 7th grade, and u guys just ttly saved my life. this place rocks! thanx 4 all the help. c ya!

  8. kersty

    wow … this really helped me out ,,, i have this BIG project due monday ….. soo yeahh it helped me out big timee hehe 🙂 thanx alot 🙂

  10. Olivia

    Than you so much I’m in 8th grade and I have to give an oral presentation about argon tomorrow and this was so easy to follow it saved my life thank you!

  14. Sierra

    I am in 8th grade and I have FIVE projects due at the same time. It has really stressed me out but wanttoknowit.com helped me a TON. It gave me almost everything I needed for the essay and powerpoint. Thanks so much!!! 🙂

  15. Katia

    OMG thanks SO much we had to make a element periodic table project and that helped SO MUCH ThANX! OH And i’m in only 6th grade lol talk about ur hard work 🙁
    TNX

  20. uttam

    hi, i m from bangladesh.. Where all info is not so available…. Bt info about argon is important for my university admission… This website really helps me… Thanks..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You can use these HTML tags and attributes <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>