Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Krypton the Supergas

Krypton was/is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman and, in some tellings, Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog. Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of its destruction varying by time period, writers and franchise. Kryptonians were the dominant people of Krypton.

The planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and was first referred to in Action Comics #1 (June 1938); the planet was given its first full-fledged appearance in Superman #1 (Summer 1939). but on a more serious note!

The Element Krypton

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 State: 0

Electron Shell Configuration:


1s2






2s2
2p6




3s2
3p6
3d10


4s2
4p6




























This page is maintained by Steve Gagnon.

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