Ramsay and Travers had considered the gap in the periodic table between Helium and Argon. They began their research and experimenting to find the element, which is now neon.Ramsay and Travers decided they would extract a large volume of argon from air. They would then liquefy the argon, and then distil it into separate fractions to see whether the lightest fractions contained the new gas.
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. It was highly improbable the new gas, lighter than argon, could be present in this residual sample. Knowing this Ramsay thought that maybe new, heavier, gas might present. Keeping the idea 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's Emission Spectrum (Krypton Element Facts)
Argon's Emission Spectrum (Process)
Just as Travers noticed when Krypton was discovered Argon's emission spectrum is present in Krypton's emission spectrum, but what identifies it as Krypton is the presence of one yellow and one green line.
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