2 October: Krypton

Today is the birthdate of the chemist Sir William Ramsay, who discovered krypton. Here are 10 things you might not know about his discovery.

1. Its chemical symbol is Kr and its atomic number is 36.
2. It’s a colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas.
3. At temperatures lower than −157.37 °C, −251.27 °F, it’s a solid, which is White with a crystalline structure.
4. Krypton was discovered in Britain in 1898 by William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris Travers, an English chemist. They’d noticed that there was a gap in the periodic table between Helium and argon, and concluded there must be another element there, and set out to find it. They element they were looking for was actually neon, but while looking for that, they accidentally discovered krypton, as well.
5. Ramsay chose the name krypton for the new element from the Greek word kryptos, meaning "the hidden one".
6. Krypton occurs naturally in the atmosphere, but is very rare – its concentration is about 1 part per million.
7. It was thought at first that krypton wouldn’t combine with other elements to make compounds, but that proved not to be the case. Krypton difluoride was made in 1963. It is a white, crystalline solid, stable at temperatures below -30 oC.
8. From 1960 to 1983, the official length of a meter was defined using the wavelength of krypton’s spectrum. Now, it’s defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
9. What is it used for? Because its discharges are brilliant white, one of its main uses is in lighting, in particular, flash photography and airport runway lights. Because it’s usually inert, it is sometimes used as an insulating gas between window panes. SpaceX Starlink use krypton as propellant for their electric propulsion system. One of its isotopes, Krypton-85, is a by product of nuclear fission and if it’s found in the atmosphere above a country, it’s a dead giveaway that they might be secretly making nuclear weapons.
10. Superman’s planet of Krypton and superman’s weakness, kryptonite, were named after the element. There’s also an unincorporated community in Perry County, Kentucky which is called Krypton. It has a post office. That was all Wikipedia knew about the place.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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