OMBAJIN, SHELAMAE BEED IV

CHEMISTRY 11

ELEMENT: KRYPTON

The Element Krypton

[Click for Isotope Data]

36
Kr
Krypton
83.798
Atomic Number: 36
Atomic Weight: 83.798
Melting Point: 115.79 K (-157.36°C or -251.25°F)
Boiling Point: 119.93 K (-153.22°C or -243.80°F)
Density: 0.003733 grams per cubic centimeter
Phase at Room Temperature: Gas
Element Classification: Non-metal
Period Number: 4 Group Number: 18 Group Name: Noble Gas
What's in a name? From the Greek word for hidden, kryptos.
Say what? Krypton is pronounced as KRIP-ton.
History and Uses:

Krypton was discovered on May 30, 1898 by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and
Morris M. Travers, an English chemist, while studying liquefied air. Small amounts of liquid
krypton remained behind after the more volatile components of liquid air had boiled away.
The earth's atmosphere is about 0.0001% krypton.

The high cost of obtaining krypton from the air has limited its practical applications. Krypton
is used in some types of photographic flashes used in high speed photography. Some fluorescent
light bulbs are filled with a mixture of krypton and argon gases. Krypton gas is also combined
with other gases to make luminous signs that glow with a greenish-yellow light. In 1960, the
length of the meter was defined in terms of the orange-red spectral line of krypton-86,
an isotope of krypton.

Once thought to be completely inert, krypton is known to form a few compounds. Krypton
difluoride (KrF2) is the easiest krypton compound to make and gram amounts of it have been
produced.

For those that are curious, pictures of krypton gas and krypton plasma can be found in
the Questions and Answers section of this site.
Estimated Crustal Abundance: 1×10-4 milligrams per kilogram
 Estimated Oceanic Abundance: 2.1×10-4 milligrams per liter
Number of Stable Isotopes: 5 (View all isotope data)
Ionization Energy: 14.000 eV
Oxidation States: 0
Electron Shell Configuration:
1s2
2s2 2p6
3s2 3p6 3d10
4s2 4p6
This page is maintained by Steve Gagnon.

The chemical element krypton is classed as a noble gas and a nonmetal. It was discovered in 1898
by William Ramsay and his assistant Morris Travers.

Data Zone
Krypton is a noble gas and a
Classification:
nonmetal

Color: colorless

Atomic weight: 83.80

State: gas

Melting point: -157.3 oC, 115.9 K

Boiling point: -153.2 oC, 119.4 K

Electrons: 36

Protons: 36

Neutrons in most abundant

48
isotope:

Electron shells: 2,8,18,8

Electron configuration: [Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p6

Density @ 20oC: 0.003708 g/cm3

Show more, including: Heats, Energies, Oxidation,

Reactions, Compounds, Radii, Conductivities

Krypton gas glows with the help of a few thousand volts. Image: Pslawinski.

Krypton’s Spectrum.

William Ramsay pointing to the periodic table’s final column containing the noble (or inert) gases. Ramsay was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1904 for his work in the discovery of the inert gases. Image: Vanity Fair
 >A krypton-ion 568 nm tertiary laser used in protein research. Photo: Center for Cancer Research
Discovery of Krypton
Dr. Doug Stewart

Scottish chemist William Ramsay and his assistant English chemist Morris Travers discovered
krypton in 1898 in London.

Ramsay had previously discovered helium and argon. He was aware that more new elements must
lie in the same group of the periodic table.

Ramsay and Travers considered the gap in the periodic table between helium and argon. They
reasoned that a new element (it’s now called neon) must exist to fill this gap; they were determined to
find it. And find it they did, but only after their search had first revealed another new element:
krypton. (1)

Aware of the history of chemistry, Ramsay knew that sometimes one new element can hide another.
For example, Johan Gadolin had discovered yttrium in the mineral we now call gadolinite. Some
years later Carl Gustaf Mosander discovered the new elements erbium and terbium in gadolinite; they
had been there all along, but Gadolin had not found them. Ramsay wondered about the possibility of
finding small amounts of the elusive new element hiding in one of his earlier discoveries, argon.

Ramsay and Travers decided they would extract a large volume of argon from air. They would liquefy
the argon, and then distil it into separate fractions to see whether the lightest fractions contained the
new gas. (2)

With little experience of handling liquid gases, they obtained a liter of liquid air in order to find out how
to work with it. In their practice work, they evaporated most of it, leaving just 100 ml. Ramsay knew it
was highly improbable the new gas, lighter than argon, could be present in this residual sample, but
the exciting idea came to him that a new, heavier, gas might just be present.

With this in mind, Travers removed oxygen and nitrogen from the gas using red-hot copper and
magnesium. He placed a sample of the remaining gas in a vacuum tube and applied a high voltage to
measure the gas’s spectrum.

He found Argon was present, as expected, but also two new brilliant lines, one yellow and one green,
which had never been seen before.
Ramsay and Travers measured the ratio of the gas’s specific heat at constant pressure to its specific
heat at constant volume and found it was 1.66. This value could only be obtained if the new gas
consisted of single atoms, proving it could not be a compound. If it was not a compound, it had to be
a new element.

Krypton had been discovered. Ramsay chose the element’s name from the Greek word ‘kryptos’
meaning ‘hidden.’

For many years after the noble gases were discovered most scientists believed that they would not
form compounds. This turned out to be incorrect.

William Ramsay actually did believe compounds would be possible, writing in 1902: “I have had for a
long time the idea that krypton and xenon may enter into combinations much more easily than the
other gases; but how to bring it about?” (3)

It took another 60 years before his question would be answered. (See Interesting Facts below.)

William Ramsay received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1904, “in recognition of his services in the
discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of their place in the periodic
system.” He was responsible for adding an entire new group to the periodic table. Radon was the only
noble gas he didn’t discover.

Interesting Facts about Krypton

 Between 1960 and 1983, the scientific unit of length, the meter, was defined as 1 650 763.73
wavelengths of krypton-86’s orange-red spectral line. (The meter is now defined as the distance
travelled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of
1/299 792 458 of a second.)
 From its discovery in 1898 until the 1960s most scientists believed it was impossible to make
compounds of krypton, or any other noble gas – although see William Ramsay, above. Krypton
difluoride was made in 1963. It is a white, crystalline solid, stable at temperatures below -30 oC. (4)
 Krypton is not very abundant in our planet’s atmosphere: For every krypton atom, there are about
8200 argon atoms, 184 000 oxygen molecules and 685 000 nitrogen molecules.
 Krypton-85 in the atmosphere can be used to detect the presence of otherwise secret nuclear
weapons research and production facilities. (5)
 Krypton-fluorine lasers produce pulses with 500 times the power of the entire U.S. electrical grid. Not
surprisingly, these pulses are of short duration: four billionths of a second. (6)
 Krypton glowing at high voltage in an electrical discharge tube. Photo: Alchemist-hp

Appearance and Characteristics

Harmful effects:

Krypton is considered to be non-toxic.

Characteristics:

Krypton is a colorless, odorless, inert gas.

Although it is extremely unreactive krypton can react with the very reactive gas fluorine. A few
compounds of krypton have been prepared, including krypton (II) fluoride and krypton clathrates.

Solid krypton is white and crystalline.

Uses of Krypton
Krypton is used in lighting products:

An important use is in high-powered, flashing airport runway lights.

Ionized krypton gas appears whitish – see photo on left – which makes krypton-based bulbs useful as
a brilliant white light source in high speed photography.

Krypton is employed alongside other gases to make luminous ‘neon light‘ style signs that glow with a
greenish-yellow light.

Krypton is used as a filling gas for energy-saving fluorescent lights and as an inert filling gas in
incandescent bulbs.

The relative abundance of krypton versus hydrogen can be used by astronomers to measure how
much nucleosynthesis (element formation) has taken place in any region of interstellar space. (7)

Between 1960 and 1983, an international agreement defined the meter length in terms of the
wavelength of light emitted from the krypton isotope, 86Kr. (The meter is now defined as the distance
traveled by light in vacuum during a time of 1/299,792,458 of a second. The time is measured using
a cesium atomic clock.)
 Abundance and Isotopes
Abundance earth’s crust: 100 parts per trillion by weight, 30 parts per trillion by moles

Abundance solar system: parts per million by weight, parts per million by moles

Cost, pure: $33 per 100g

Cost, bulk: $ per 100g

Source: Krypton is obtained commercially by fractional distillation of liquid air.

Isotopes: Krypton has 25 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 71 to 95.
Naturally occurring krypton is a mixture of six isotopes and they are found in the percentages
shown: 78Kr (0.4%), 80Kr (2.3%), 82Kr (11.6%), 83Kr (11.5%), 84Kr (57.0%) and 86Kr (17.3%). The most
abundant isotope is 84Kr at 57.0%.

acts About Krypton

By Stephanie Pappas October 21, 2014 Planet Earth

A small vial (1-by-5 centimeters) of glowing ultrapure krypton.

(Image: © Jurii/Creative Commons)

It's not just Superman's home planet; Krypton is one of the rarest gases on Earth, composing only 1 part per
million of the atmosphere by volume.

This noble gas is colorless and odorless. It has a full outer shell of electrons, rendering it largely inert to
reactions with other elements. Unlike its fellow noble gas neon, however, krypton does make some compounds.
The most common is the colorless solid krypton difluoride (KrF2), according to the Thomas Jefferson National
Linear Accelerator Laboratory. Krypton difluoride is only stable below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30
degrees Celsius), according to Chemicool.
 Because krypton is so rare (and thus expensive), it has limited use. The gas is injected into some incandescent
lightbulbs, because it extends the life of the tungsten filament that makes those bulbs glow, according
to Universal Industrial Gases Inc., a supplier of industrial gases production equipment and related services.
Because it is such a heavy gas, krypton is also sealed between the glass of some double-paned windows to help
them trap heat. But even for this purpose, the noble gas argon is usually used because it is cheaper, according to
Universal Industrial Gases.
Just the facts
 Atomic number (number of protons in the nucleus): 36
 Atomic symbol (on the Periodic Table of Elements): Kr
 Atomic weight (average mass of the atom): 83.798
 Density: 0.003733 grams per cubic centimeter
 Phase at room temperature: Gas
 Melting point: minus 251.25 F (minus 157.36 C)
 Boiling point: minus 243.80 F (minus 153.22 C)
 Number of isotopes (atoms of the same element with a different number of neutrons): 37
 Most common isotopes: Kr-84 (56.98 percent of natural abundance), Kr-86 (17.279 percent of natural abundance), Kr-82
(11.59 percent of natural abundance), Kr-83 (11.5 percent of natural abundance), Kr-80 (2.28 percent of natural
abundance) and Kr-78 (0.35 percent of natural abundance)
The hidden gas

The discovery of krypton occurred partially by accident. Scottish chemist William Ramsay and English chemist
Morris Travers were extracting argon for air in hopes of evaporating it and finding a lighter chemical element to
fill the gap in the Periodic Table between argon and helium.

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Inadvertently, however, the researchers overdid the evaporation, leaving only a heavy gas sample behind,
according to Chemicool. Wondering if they might find something anyway, they analyzed the light spectrum of
 the gases in the sample and found something unknown — a brand-new element. This new element was not
lighter than argon, but heavier. The researchers dubbed this discovery "krypton," from the Greek word for
"hidden," kryptos.

Electron configuration and elemental properties of krypton.

(Image credit: Greg Robson/Creative Commons, Andrei Marincas Shutterstock)

Who knew?
 When exposed to an electrical current under low pressure, krypton gas lights up like neon — but instead of red-orange,
krypton glows smoky white, according to the Jefferson Lab.
 The meter (3.3 feet) was once officially defined by the wavelength of krypton-86, the heaviest stable isotope of krypton.
(Today, it's defined by the distance light travels in a vacuum in a fraction of a second). Just over 1.5 million krypton-86
orange-red wavelengths equals a meter, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry.
 OK, let's talk Superman. The superhero's home world was first referenced in 1938. At first, the Superman comics
referenced all residents of the destroyed planet of Krypton as possessing super strength; by the 1950s, however, the story
shifted. Superman would have been an average Joe on Krypton, but Earth's lighter gravity and yellow sun gave him his
superpowers. [Related: How a Real-Life Astrophysicist Found Superman's Planet Krypton: The Inside Story]
 Don't confuse krypton with kryptonite, the famed Superman repellant. Kryptonite is described as a radioactive solid of
varying colors, from red to green to black. Krypton, as has been established, is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas. How
dull.
 The discoverers of krypton (Ramsay and Travers) also discovered helium, argon, xenon and neon. Ramsay won the Nobel
Prize in chemistry in 1904 for these discoveries.
Current research

Pew! Pew! OK, they don't actually make that sound, but krypton-fluorine lasers are a powerful scientific tool —
and they're responsible for at least one Guinness World Record. These lasers can produce a pulse of energy 500
times as strong as the entire U.S. electrical grid in just four-billionths of a second, according to Chemicool. In
July 2014, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory celebrated their entry into the Guinness Book of
World Records for using a powerful krypton-fluorine laser to accelerate plastic foils to speeds of 1,000
kilometers per second (more than 2.2 million mph) in less than a millimeter of distance. Those experiments
were conducted in 2009; since then, researchers have boosted the laser-driven speeds to 1,180 km/s. The
purpose, other than winning world records, is to advance research on nuclear fusion.
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Krypton has other scientific superpowers as well. Radioactive isotopes of krypton — versions of the atom with
differing numbers of neutrons in their nuclei — are produced naturally when cosmic rays from space hit
krypton atoms in the atmosphere, said Christo Buizert, a postdoctoral researcher in geology and geophysics at
Oregon State University. These radioactive isotopes are unstable, meaning they decay over time.

This timed decay creates an atomic "clock," not unlike carbon-14, a radioactive element with a half-life of about
5,000 years. Carbon-14 is great for dating organic objects that date back tens of thousands of years, but many
elements of the Earth are far older, Buizert said.

He and his colleagues have used a krypton isotope, krypton-81, with a half-life of 230,000 years to date ice
cores in the Antarctic back to 120,000 years old. (The oldest Antarctic ice ever found fell as snow 800,000 years
ago.) Bubbles in the ice trap atmospheric gases as they were when the snow fell, Buizert told Live Science. By
measuring the levels of krypton-81 and comparing them to the current atmosphere, researchers can use the
known rate of decay of the isotope to determine the ice's age.

"If krypton-81 is the same as it is in the atmosphere, we can tell the ice is young and very recent," Buizert said.
"If it is older, there is less and less krypton-81 in the sample."
The krypton-81 measurement technique is only about a decade old, Buizert said. Because krypton-81 (and
krypton in general) is quite rare in the atmosphere, using the gas for dating requires a lot of material — 220 lbs.
(100 kilograms) of ice, in the case of the Antarctic ice-dating study that the researchers published in April 2014
in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The actual sampling of the ice was done only
two years before the paper was published, Buizert said. Since then, the technology has improved so much that
only 44 lbs. (20 kg) of ice would be needed today for the same study. Researchers are now seeking even older
ice in Antarctica, hoping to find some dating back as far as 1.5 million years. These ice samples hold clues
about the ancient climate and atmosphere at the time when the snow fell.
Far from the glaciers of Antarctica, krypton-81 has also been used to date amazing old groundwater in the
Sahara Desert. A 2004 study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters revealed that in certain areas of
southwestern Egypt, the groundwater reaching the surface hasn't seen the light of day for 1 million years.
Another isotope of krypton, krypton-85, is largely produced as a byproduct of nuclear fission. By measuring
levels of krypton-85 in the atmosphere over secretive countries like North Korea, researchers can pinpoint
locations that might harbor hidden nuclear facilities. In 2003, for example, the BBC reported that sensors along
the North Korean border had noted high levels of krypton-85 that did not emanate from the country's main
nuclear plant — suggest a second, secret plant. North Korea tested nuclear bombs in 2006, 2009 and 2013,
according to the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative.