sign in sign up
<<
Home , Helium, Noble gas (data page), Radon

Radon and Other Noble The elements in the last column of the are all very stable, mono-atomic gases. Until 1962, they were called inert gases because they did not react with other elements to form . tetrafluoride, XeF4, was produced in that year. All these elements except are used as luminous gases in lighting ( lights).

Outline • Nobel Elements • Radon and Health • • Homework

Noble Gases

Each of the noble gases, in the last column of the periodic table, has its last shell completely filled. The elements with a filled shell configuration are the most stable and have the lowest tendency of all elements to gain , lose electrons, or share electrons in chemical bonds.

Chemistry 102 Prof. Shapley page 1 The ionization energy the the amount of energy required to remove an electron from an . The highest energy electron is the first one to be removed. Ionization energy is one measure of the stability of an atom. Filled shell electronic configurations are most stable. When one type of orbital (s, p, or d) is either filled or half filled, the atom is more stable than with other partially filled s, p, or d orbitals.

Because they have stable, filled shell configurations, it is difficult to remove an electron from any of the noble gases. The chart below shows ionization energy through the periodic table. Each peak is one of the noble gases. Note that ionization energy decreases from top to bottom of each column because the outer shell electrons become farther removed from the nucleus.

Helium

Helium is the second most abundant element in the , after . On , its atmospheric concentration is only 0.00052 % of all gases. It is produced by of heavy elements and has a significant concentration (~7 %) in .

We're all familiar with one use of helium gas. It is lighter than air and is used to fill and party .

In liquid form, it is used to cool superconducting magnets.

Chemistry 102 Prof. Shapley page 2 Neon, ,

Neon, argon, and krypton are present in the and other . On the right you can see the atomic emission of neon spectrum of neon in sunlight.

Argon is the only with a significant concentration in the (0.9 % of all atmospheric gas molecules) but the others are present in very small quantities.

These elements produce light when an electric discharge passes through the gas. Click here to see a simulation of a neon light.

Why?

Think of our discussion of the hydrogen atomic . The energy from the electric discharge causes an electron to be excited to another . Neon, with its filled n=2 shell, has an electron excited to the n=3 or n=4 shell. When the electron falls back down to the , it gives up its extra energy as a photon of visible light.

Radon and Health

Radon is a radioactive element that is one of the products of the radioactive decay of . Its most stable is 222Rn with a half life of 3.8 days.

222Rn 218Po + 4He

Radioactive elements can decay through loss of: 1. an (to an element with 2 fewer protons and 2 fewer ), 2. a (to an element with 1 fewer and 1 more proton), 3. a positive beta particle or positron (to an element with 1 fewer protons and 1 more neutrons), 4. a , 5. of combinations of the above.

Here is one uranium decay series that includes radon.

Chemistry 102 Prof. Shapley page 3 238U 234Th 234Pa 234U 230Th 226Ra 222Rn 218Po 214Pb 214Bi 214Po 210Pb 210Bi 210Po 206Pb (stable)

The alpha particle (helium nucleus) is released with a lot of energy and it interacts strongly with human lung tissue. Because the decay products of radon are solids that are also radioactive, they can lodge in the lung and cause serious damage over time. Radon and its decay products are a potential source of lung . Radon can seep into houses through cracks in basement walls or through water.

Because radon is derived from the radioactive decay of uranium in the soil and the uranium is not evenly distributed, some parts of the country have more exposure than others. All parts of Illinois are in the EPA's zone 1 or zone 2 designation with significant to moderate radon exposure.

Chemistry 102 Prof. Shapley page 4 Chemistry

The noble gases are the least reactive of all the elements but the heavier ones do form some molecules. Helium and neon never form molecules. They have completely filled electron shells with no have-filled orbitals available for making covalent bonds and they have very high ionization energies so they don't form .

Argon Chemistry Atomic argon has a filled shell configuration with filled 3s and 3p orbitals. For neutral atoms, the 3d orbitals are above the 4s orbitals in energy. However, for ions and molecules, the 3d is lower in energy than the 4.

Chemistry 102 Prof. Shapley page 5 As another element, such as fluorine, begins to interact with argon the energy difference between the Ar 3p and Ar 3d becomes fairly small. It takes a small amount of energy to excite an electron from the filled 3p level. The resulting excited state atom has 2 half-filled orbitals available for making covalent bonds.

Krypton Chemistry The energy difference between shells decreases as the energy level increases. The energy difference between the shell n=4 and n=5 (for krypton) is smaller than the difference between n=3 and n=4 (for argon). Because of this, kryton is more reactive and makes more kinds of molecules than does argon.

Krypton can make 2 bonds to fluorine, as does argon. The KrF2 has 2 covalent bonds between krypton and fluorine atoms.

After 2 electrons in different 4p orbitals are excited to 4d orbitals, krypton can make 4 bonds to fluorine. The molecule KrF4 has 4 covalent bonds between krypton and fluorine.

Chemistry 102 Prof. Shapley page 6 Krypton also forms compounds with .

Radon Chemistry

Radon can be oxidized to RaF2. Very little reaction chemistry is know for radon. It hasn't been studied extensively because it decays so quickly.

Chemistry 102 Prof. Shapley page 7