Description
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Xenon is a colorless, odorless, noble gas. Xenon can be oxidized by strong oxidizing agents, and it emits a blue or lavender glow when exposed to electrical discharge. Xenon has an atomic weight of 131.293, a melting point of - 169.1 °F, and a boiling point of - 162.62 °F. Common uses of xenon include: as a major component in xenon flash lamps and xenon arc lamps, as a starter gas for high pressure sodium lamps, as a component of some lasers, and in general anesthetic.
Isolation
Xenon is found in trace amounts in the earth’s atmosphere; it is also released in gaseous form from some mineral springs. Isolation processes for xenon rely on extracting it out of the air.
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Xenon is extracted on a large scale for commercial use as a by-product from separating the air into oxygen and nitrogen. Fractional distillation is used in a double column plant to obtain liquid oxygen. The liquid oxygen that is collected from fraction distillation also contains small amounts of krypton and xenon. Further reduction through multiple fractional distillation steps increases the concentration of krypton and xenon in the liquid oxygen. Silica gel is used to absorb the krypton and xenon, or distillation is used to further extract the elements from the oxygen. The final step involves separating the krypton and xenon through distillation using the differing boiling points of the elements. Xenon is stored in its pure form in pressurized metal cylinders. A very small amount of xenon can be produced and isolated from neutron irradiation of fissionable compounds, but this xenon has radioactive properties. Xenon is considered to be non-toxic but many compounds of xenon are toxic.