Krypton Gas

There are six noble gases occurring naturally, in the atmosphere. They are a group of chemical elements with very low chemical reactivity, having characteristic properties. The six gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radioactive radon. They are chemically inert because their outer shell of valence electrons is full. Thus, they have no tendency to participate in chemical reactions. These noble gases have many useful applications in the industries like welding, lighting, space exploration, sea diving, etc. Among these six noble gases, krypton gas is considered one of the most useful and inert.

Properties of Krypton Gas

Krypton gas was first discovered by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist and Morris Travers, an English chemist in the year 1898. They discovered this gas in the residue left after evaporating all components of liquid air.

Krypton gas is represented by the symbol Kr, having atomic number 36 and atomic weight 83.80. It has melting point of -157.2°C and boiling point of -153.4°C. In the periodic table of chemical elements, Krypton is placed in period 4 and one of the members of Group 18 elements. It can be isolated by fractional distillation of air. Being a member of noble gases family, the typical properties of krypton gas are: colorless, odorless and tasteless. It occurs in trace amounts, approximately 1 ppm, in the atmosphere.

Naturally occurring krypton has six stable isotopes and seventeen other unstable isotopes have now been discovered. Physical properties of Krypton gas include, emission of sharp spectral lines. The most prominent and strongest is green and yellow. Solidified crystal has cubical crystalline structure, white in color.

Uses of Krypton Gas

Krypton gas finds immense application in lighting and photography. When mixed with other rare gases, krypton gas is used in fluorescent lamps. Krypton has high light output in plasmas and this property is explored in high powdered gas lasers. Krypton gas is employed in krypton fluid laser. Krypton bulbs in photography utilizes krypton's ability to emit multiple spectral lines that make whitish discharge of ionized krypton gas.

Krypton is mixed with xenon is used as filling for incandescent lamps. This reduces filament evaporation and allows high operating temperature for the filament. Liquid krypton is used for constructing quasi-homogeneous electromagnetic calorimeters. Krypton - 83 is applied in magnetic resonance imaging for distinguishing between hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Mixing krypton with xenon, this can be used as breathing mixture in Computerized Tomography.

Difference Between Argon and Krypton Gas

Argon is also one of the six noble gases with atomic number 18. It has a very low thermal conductivity of nearly 67% that of air, while krypton has half that of argon. For insulated glazer argon is most frequently used as it is most affordable. Although krypton has a better thermal performance, it is more expensive than argon. Argon finds its application in various metal gas welding, unlike krypton. Argon gas atmosphere is often used for growing crystals of germanium and silicon. Apart from differences in chemical properties, the main differences between argon and krypton lies in their uses. Argon gas is also employed in cryosurgery procedures, where a technique known as argon enhanced coagulation is performed. In laboratory, argon gas is used as carrier in gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Although considered chemically nonreactive, this gas can be synthesized to form Krypton difluoride, krypton tetrafluoride, etc. Krypton gas, one of the most useful of noble gases has a unique characteristic of forming brilliant spectral lines and this attribute is widely utilized in lighting and photography.