2 October: Argon

Born this date in 1852 was Sir William Ramsay, one of the chemists who co-discovered argon. 10 things you didn't know about argon:

1. The chemical symbol for argon is Ar, at least since 1957, before which its symbol was A. Its atomic number is 18.
2. It's a colourless, flavourless, odourless noble gas. When in liquid and solid form, it remains colourless, unlike some other gases.
3. It was the first noble gas to be discovered. Its existence had been suspected since 1785, since Henry Cavendish studied air. In 1882 H.F. Newall and W.N. Hartley discovered a spectral line which couldn't be assigned to any known element. The element was isolated and officially discovered by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay in 1894.
4. The word argon comes from comes from the Greek word argos, which means lazy or inactive. This is because of argon's resistance to forming chemical bonds with other elements. That said, since 1962, scientists have been able to synthesise compounds of argon with heavier noble gases.
5. Of the noble gases, argon is the most abundant. It accounts for about 0.94% of the Earth's atmosphere, making it the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, after nitrogen and Oxygen. It makes up 1.6% of the Martian atmosphere, while the atmosphere of the planet Mercury is about 70% argon. Although argon is an abundant element, it has no known biological functions.
6. More than 99% of the argon on Earth consists of the isotope Ar-40, which comes from the radioactive decay of potassium-40 into argon-40.
7. Most of the argon in the universe is argon-36, which is made when stars 11 times more massive than the Sun are in their silicon-burning phase. In the universe as a whole, Argon is quite rare.
8. It is nonflammable and nontoxic. That doesn't mean it can't kill you, however. Since argon is 38% more dense than air, it can displace oxygenated air in enclosed spaces and suffocate you.
9. Argon has many uses, including: as a protective gas for welding, storing sensitive chemicals, and protecting materials; in lasers and glow tubes; as a propellant in aerosol cans; to date the age of ground water and ice core samples; in cryosurgery, to destroy cancerous tissue; for thermal insulation in energy-efficient windows; and in scuba diving to inflate a dry suit.
10. I don't tell chemistry jokes because all the good ones argon.

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