Editing Xenon (section)

== History ==
Xenon was discovered in England by the Scottish chemist [[William Ramsay]] and English chemist [[Morris Travers]] on July 12, 1898,<ref name="Nobel">{{cite web
| url         = https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1904/ramsay-lecture.html
| title       = Nobel Lecture – The Rare Gases of the Atmosphere
| last        = Ramsay
| first       = Sir William
| date        = July 12, 1898
| website     = Nobel prize
| publisher   = Nobel Media AB
| access-date = November 15, 2015
}}</ref> shortly after their discovery of the elements [[krypton]] and [[neon]]. They found xenon in the residue left over from evaporating components of [[liquid air]].<ref>{{cite journal
| author  = Ramsay, W.
| author2 = Travers, M. W.
| title   = On the extraction from air of the companions of argon, and neon
| journal = Report of the Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
| year    = 1898
| page    = 828
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele054.html
| title       = It's Elemental – Xenon
| access-date = June 16, 2007
| last        = Gagnon
| first       = Steve
| publisher   = Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
}}</ref> Ramsay suggested the name ''xenon'' for this gas from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ξένον ''xénon'', neuter singular form of ξένος ''xénos'', meaning 'foreign(er)', 'strange(r)', or 'guest'.<ref>{{cite book
| editor    = Daniel Coit Gilman
| editor2   = Harry Thurston Peck
| editor3   = Frank Moore Colby
| date      = 1904
| title     = The New International Encyclopædia
| publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
| page      = 906
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| date      = 1991
| url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=IrcZEZ1bOJsC&pg=PA513
| title     = The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories
| page      = 513
| publisher = Merriam-Webster
| isbn      = 0-87779-603-3
}}</ref> In 1902, Ramsay estimated the proportion of xenon in the Earth's atmosphere to be one part in 20 million.<ref>{{cite journal
| last    = Ramsay
| first   = William
| s2cid   = 97151557
| title   = An Attempt to Estimate the Relative Amounts of Krypton and of Xenon in Atmospheric Air
| journal = [[Proceedings of the Royal Society of London]]
| year    = 1902
| volume  = 71
| issue   = 467–476
| pages   = 421–26
| doi     = 10.1098/rspl.1902.0121
| bibcode = 1902RSPS...71..421R
}}</ref>

During the 1930s, American engineer [[Harold Eugene Edgerton|Harold Edgerton]] began exploring [[strobe light]] technology for [[High-speed photography|high speed photography]]. This led him to the invention of the xenon [[Flashtube|flash lamp]] in which light is generated by passing brief electric current through a tube filled with xenon gas. In 1934, Edgerton was able to generate flashes as brief as one [[microsecond]] with this method.<ref name="burke" /><ref>{{cite web
| title        = History
| url          = http://www.millisecond-cine.com/history.html
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060822141910/http://www.millisecond-cine.com/history.html
| archive-date = August 22, 2006
| publisher    = Millisecond Cinematography
| access-date  = November 7, 2007
}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia
| last         = Paschotta
| first        = Rüdiger
| date         = November 1, 2007
| url          = https://www.rp-photonics.com/lamp_pumped_lasers.html
| title        = Lamp-pumped lasers
| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology
| publisher    = RP Photonics
| access-date  = November 7, 2007
}}</ref>

In 1939, American physician [[Albert R. Behnke]] Jr. began exploring the causes of "drunkenness" in deep-sea divers. He tested the effects of varying the breathing mixtures on his subjects, and discovered that this caused the divers to perceive a change in depth. From his results, he deduced that xenon gas could serve as an [[Anesthesia|anesthetic]]. Although Russian toxicologist [[Nikolay Lazarev|Nikolay V. Lazarev]] apparently studied xenon anesthesia in 1941, the first published report confirming xenon anesthesia was in 1946 by American medical researcher John H. Lawrence, who experimented on mice. Xenon was first used as a surgical anesthetic in 1951 by American anesthesiologist Stuart C. Cullen, who successfully used it with two patients.<ref>{{cite journal
| author      = Marx, Thomas
| author2     = Schmidt, Michael
| author3     = Schirmer, Uwe
| author4     = Reinelt, Helmut
| title       = Xenon anesthesia
| journal     = Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
| year        = 2000
| volume      = 93
| pages       = 513–7
| url         = http://www.jrsm.org/cgi/reprint/93/10/513.pdf
| access-date = October 2, 2007
| pmid        = 11064688
| issue       = 10
| pmc         = 1298124
| doi         = 10.1177/014107680009301005
}}</ref>
[[File:An acrylic cube specially prepared for element collectors containing an ampoule filled with liquefied xenon.JPG|thumb|left|An acrylic cube specially prepared for element collectors containing a glass [[ampoule]] of liquefied xenon]]
Xenon and the other noble gases were for a long time considered to be completely chemically inert and not able to form [[chemical compound|compounds]]. However, while teaching at the [[University of British Columbia]], [[Neil Bartlett (chemist)|Neil Bartlett]] discovered that the gas [[platinum hexafluoride]] (PtF<sub>6</sub>) was a powerful [[Redox|oxidizing]] agent that could oxidize oxygen gas (O<sub>2</sub>) to form [[dioxygenyl hexafluoroplatinate]] ({{chem|O|2|+|[PtF|6|]|-}}).<ref>{{cite journal
| title = Dioxygenyl hexafluoroplatinate (V), {{chem|O|2|+|[PtF|6|]|-
}}
 |author=Bartlett, Neil
 |author2=Lohmann, D. H.
 |journal=Proceedings of the Chemical Society
 |publisher=Chemical Society|location=London
 |issue=3|page=115|date=1962
 |doi = 10.1039/PS9620000097
}}</ref> Since O<sub>2</sub> (1165 kJ/mol) and xenon (1170&nbsp;kJ/mol) have almost the same first [[Ionization energy|ionization potential]], Bartlett realized that platinum hexafluoride might also be able to oxidize xenon. On March 23, 1962, he mixed the two gases and produced the first known compound of a noble gas, [[xenon hexafluoroplatinate]].<ref name="bartlettxe">{{cite journal
| title     = Xenon hexafluoroplatinate (V) Xe<sup>+</sup>[PtF<sub>6</sub>]<sup>−</sup>
| author    = Bartlett, N.
| journal   = Proceedings of the Chemical Society
| publisher = [[Chemical Society]]
| location  = London
| issue     = 6
| page      = 218
| date      = 1962
| doi       = 10.1039/PS9620000197
}}</ref><ref name="beautiful">{{cite magazine
| title    = Chemistry at its Most Beautiful
| last     = Freemantle
| first    = Michael
| date     = August 25, 2003
| magazine = Chemical & Engineering News
| volume   = 81
| issue    = 34
| pages    = 27–30
| doi      = 10.1021/cen-v081n034.p027
}}</ref>

Bartlett thought its composition to be Xe<sup>+</sup>[PtF<sub>6</sub>]<sup>−</sup>, but later work revealed that it was probably a mixture of various xenon-containing salts.<ref name="grahm">{{cite journal
| last    = Graham
| first   = L.
| date    = 2000
| author2 = Graudejus, O.
| author3 = Jha N.K.
| author4 = Bartlett, N.
| title   = Concerning the nature of XePtF<sub>6</sub>
| journal = Coordination Chemistry Reviews
| volume  = 197
| issue   = 1
| pages   = 321–34
| doi     = 10.1016/S0010-8545(99)00190-3
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| first     = A. F.
| last      = Holleman
| author2   = Wiberg, Egon
| editor    = Bernhard J. Aylett
| date      = 2001
| others    = translated by Mary Eagleson and William Brewer
| title     = Inorganic Chemistry
| location  = San Diego
| publisher = [[Academic Press]]
| isbn      = 0-12-352651-5
}}; translation of ''Lehrbuch der Anorganischen Chemie'', founded by A. F. Holleman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vEwj1WZKThEC&pg=PA395 continued by Egon Wiberg], edited by Nils Wiberg, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995, 34th edition, {{ISBN|3-11-012641-9}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web
| last         = Steel
| first        = Joanna
| date         = 2007
| url          = http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/publications/news/2006/bio_bartlett.php
| title        = Biography of Neil Bartlett
| publisher    = College of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
| access-date  = October 25, 2007
| url-status   = dead
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090923143345/http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/publications/news/2006/bio_bartlett.php
| archive-date = September 23, 2009
}}</ref> Since then, many other xenon compounds have been discovered,<ref>{{cite journal
| last        = Bartlett
| first       = Neil
| date        = September 9, 2003
| url         = http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/noblegases.html
| title       = The Noble Gases
| journal     = Chemical & Engineering News
| volume      = 81
| issue       = 36
| pages       = 32–34
| publisher   = American Chemical Society
| doi         = 10.1021/cen-v081n036.p032
| access-date = October 1, 2007
}}</ref> in addition to some compounds of the noble gases [[argon]], [[krypton]], and [[radon]], including [[argon fluorohydride]] (HArF),<ref>{{cite journal
| first   = Leonid
| last    = Khriachtchev
| author2 = Pettersson, Mika
| author3 = Runeberg, Nino
| author4 = Lundell, Jan
| author5 = Räsänen, Markku
| s2cid   = 4382128
| date    = August 24, 2000
| title   = A stable argon compound
| journal = Nature
| volume  = 406
| pages   = 874–6
| doi     = 10.1038/35022551
| pmid    = 10972285
| issue   = 6798
| bibcode = 2000Natur.406..874K
}}</ref> [[krypton difluoride]] (KrF<sub>2</sub>),<ref>{{cite book
| author     = Lynch, C. T.
| author2    = Summitt, R.
| author3    = Sliker, A.
| year       = 1980
| title      = CRC Handbook of Materials Science
| publisher  = [[CRC Press]]
| isbn       = 0-87819-231-X
| url-access = registration
| url        = https://archive.org/details/crchandbookofmat0000unse
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| title   = Krypton Difluoride: Preparation and Handling
| author  = MacKenzie, D. R.
| s2cid   = 44475654
| year    = 1963
| journal = Science
| volume  = 141
| issue   = 3586
| page    = 1171
| doi     = 10.1126/science.141.3586.1171
| pmid    = 17751791
| bibcode = 1963Sci...141.1171M
}}</ref> and [[Radon difluoride|radon fluoride]].<ref>{{cite journal
| author          = Paul R. Fields
| author2         = Lawrence Stein
| author3         = Moshe H. Zirin
| name-list-style = amp
| title           = Radon Fluoride
| journal         = [[Journal of the American Chemical Society]]
| year            = 1962
| volume          = 84
| issue           = 21
| pages           = 4164–65
| doi             = 10.1021/ja00880a048
| bibcode = 1962JAChS..84.4164F
}}</ref> By 1971, more than 80 xenon compounds were known.<ref name="CRC">{{cite web
| url          = http://www.chemnetbase.com/periodic_table/elements/xenon.htm
| title        = Xenon
| work         = Periodic Table Online
| publisher    = CRC Press
| access-date  = October 8, 2007
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070410040717/http://chemnetbase.com/periodic_table/elements/xenon.htm
| archive-date = April 10, 2007
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| last        = Moody
| first       = G. J.
| title       = A Decade of Xenon Chemistry
| journal     = Journal of Chemical Education
| year        = 1974
| volume      = 51
| issue       = 10
| pages       = 628–30
| url         = http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ111480
| access-date = October 16, 2007
| doi         = 10.1021/ed051p628
| bibcode     = 1974JChEd..51..628M
}}</ref>

In November 1989, [[IBM]] scientists demonstrated a technology capable of manipulating individual [[atom]]s. The program, called [[IBM (atoms)|IBM in atoms]], used a [[scanning tunneling microscope]] to arrange 35 individual xenon atoms on a substrate of chilled crystal of [[nickel]] to spell out the three-letter company initialism. It was the first-time atoms had been precisely positioned on a flat surface.<ref>Browne, Malcolm W. (April 5, 1990) [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/05/us/2-researchers-spell-ibm-atom-by-atom.html "2 Researchers Spell 'I.B.M.,' Atom by Atom"]. ''The New York Times''</ref>