54

Xe

Xenon
131.293 (6)
 Historical Information

Xenon was discovered by Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers in 1898 in the residue left after evaporating liquid air components. Krypton and neon had been discovered by the same methods by the same workers only weeks earlier.

Basic Information Shells
  • Name:Xenon
  • Symbol: Xe
  • Atomic number: 54
  • Atomic weight:131.293 (6)
  • Standard state: gas at 298 K
  • Group in periodic table: 18
  • Group name:Noble gas
  • Period in periodic table: 5
  • Block in periodic table: p-block
  • Classification: Non-metallic
 Xenon
Uses Trivia
  • used in the atomic energy field in bubble chambers, probes, and other applications where its high molecular weight is of value

Metallic xenon is produced by applying several hundred kilobars of pressure. Xenon in a vacuum tube produces a blue glow when excited by an electrical discharge and finds use in strobe lamps.