Wednesday, May 30, 2007

On This Day

By Princessa

Not to be confused with the fictional planet Krypton (birth planet of comic book hero Superman) or "kryptonite" (which robs Superman of his strength), krypton is one of the six inert (noble) gasses in the air (along with helium, neon, argon, xenon, and radon).

When English chemist Morris William Travers and Scottish chemist Sir Willam Ramsay boiled away liquid air, a colorless element remained. The two scientists named it krypton, from the Greek word meaning "hidden." Krypton, which appears in Group 18 of the the periodic table with a molecular weight of 83.7, is used in flashes in high speed photography, fluorescent lightbulbs, and green-yellow neon signs.

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