By: Morgan Fouts Mikael Vanhoose McKenna Metsker

 Discovered by Sir William Ramsay (Scottish chemist) and Morris M. Travers (English chemist)  They had been experimenting with liquid air at University College London  They had already extracted other elements from liquid air such as Neon and Argon, and were searching to see if there were any other gases included in the substance That is how they discovered Xenon  Discovered on July 12, 1898  Xe was believed to be inert (“chemically inactive”) until 1962 when Neil Bartlett found that Xe would create a compound with Fluorine

 As of now, more than 100 Xenon compounds have been made  The name “Xenon” originates from the Greek word “xenos” meaning “stranger”  They had originally wanted to name this new element after the brilliant blue color it gave off in a vacuum tube, which had allowed them to identify it as a new element, but they found that any name with Greek or Latin roots indicating the color blue had already been used by organic chemists.

 Symbol: Xe  Atomic Number: 54  Atomic Weight:  Atomic Mass: amu  Boiling Point: K  Melting Point: K  Is a nonmetal  Is a gas at room temperature  Heaviest of the noble gases  Not conductive  Not radioactive  Not flammable or corrosive

 Xenon lamps are used to kill bacteria  When Xe is excited by electricity, it gives off a flash of white light which is why it is commonly used in strobe lights  Xe is used to power ruby lasers  Xe ions were used to power an ion engine used on the space probe Deep Space 1  Newer models of car headlights include Xe (headlights that give off a bluish light and are incredibly bright)  Xe is used in electrostatic ion thrusters which are used to propel satellites into space  Used in photographic flashes, high pressure arc lamps for movies (projectors) and arc lamps for ultraviolet light

 The first solid state laser and first excimer laser relied on Xenon  Containers of Xenon may explode when heated  Xenon reacts with Fluorine to create Tetra fluoride  It is colorless unless put in an electric field electricity

 Xe is the least abundant of all of the noble gases  This causes it to be extremely expensive: a small balloon full would cost around $65  April 2010: a baby was born without a pulse and was not breathing  The baby was cooled and treated with Xe, which reduced the release of neurotransmitters, allowing brain damage to be avoided for the baby  Video on what happens when Xe is inhaled from a balloon instead of Helium: (Only watch from 1:17-2:30)

 “Categories You Should Follow." Answers. Answers Corporation, n.d. Web. 22 Oct  "The Element Xenon." It's Elemental -. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct  "Xenon." - Element Information, Properties and Uses. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct  "Xenon." WebElements Periodic Table of the Elements. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014