Argon
...ord argos, meaning “inactive”, and is the 18th element on the table. Like many other gases such as hydrogen and oxygen, argon makes up part of our atmosphere, even though it is roughly less then 1%. Despite this, argon is the third most abundant gas in the world. One may wonder what uses this gas may have if it is undetectable by the regular human and is rare to be found. Surprisingly, argon is used extensively in incandescent lamps, arc wielding, plasma jet torches and other rare gas mixtures for other purposes. However, argon is still extremely poisonous and therefore is kept safe from inhalation and contact by humans directly. When one studies argon more closely, one sees that argon has 8 valence electrons in its 2-8-8 configuration. This proves that argon is extremely stable and not likely to react with other elements. Argon’s atoms do not react with each other, nor with any other element. In fact, argon is a true inert gas because it does not form any true chemical compounds, as do some of the other Noble Gases such as Xenon or Radon. Argon would therefore be a good medium for other elements to reside in. Argon is basically released to the atmosphere from the decay of potassium-40 within the earth’s rocks. This constitutes for its small part in the atmosphere. Naturally occurring argon is basically a mixture of three stable is...