A Short Course In Qualitative Chemical Analysis

Like other elements of the same type it was iso lated from liquid air. The existence of these elements in air had remained unsuspected through over a century of ardent chemical analysis of the air, so when they finally dawned upon the chemical consciousness they were greeted as strange and unexpected newcomers. Indeed, the name, xenon, is the neutral form of the Greek word for "strange," so that xenon is "the strange one" in all literalness. Xenon belongs to a group of elements commonly known as the "inert gases" (because they are chemically inert) or the "rare gases" (because they are rare), or "noble gases" because the standoffishness that results from chemi cal inertness seems to indicate a haughty sense of seff importance. Xenon is the rarest of the stable inert gas and, as a matter of fact, is the rarest of all the stable elements on Earth. Xenon occurs only in the atmosphere, and there it makes up about 5.3 parts per million by weight. Since the atmosphere weighs about 5,500,000,000,000,000 (five and a half quadrillion) tons, this means that the planetary supply of xenon comes to just about 30,000,000,000 (thirty billion) tons ...»