Editing Argon (section)

==History==
[[Image:Isolation of Argon.png|thumb|left |upright=0.6|A: test-tube, B: dilute alkali, C: U-shaped glass tube, D: platinum electrode]]

''Argon'' ([[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|ἀργόν}}, neuter singular form of {{lang|grc|ἀργός}} meaning "lazy" or "inactive") is named in reference to its chemical inactivity. This chemical property of this first [[noble gas]] to be discovered impressed the namers.<ref name="lazyone1">
{{cite book
 |last = Hiebert |first = E. N.
 |date = 1963
 |chapter = In Noble-Gas Compounds
 |editor = Hyman, H. H.
 |title = Historical Remarks on the Discovery of Argon: The First Noble Gas
 |publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]]
 |pages = 3–20
}}</ref><ref name="lazyone2">
{{cite book
 |last=Travers |first = M. W.
 |date=1928
 |title=The Discovery of the Rare Gases
 |url=https://archive.org/details/discoveryofrareg0000trav |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/discoveryofrareg0000trav/page/1 1–7]
 |publisher=Edward Arnold & Co.
}}</ref> An unreactive gas was suspected to be a component of air by [[Henry Cavendish]] in 1785.<ref name="Cave1785">{{cite journal |author=Cavendish, Henry |title=Experiments on Air |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society |year=1785 |volume=75 |pages=372–384 |bibcode=1785RSPT...75..372C |doi=10.1098/rstl.1785.0023|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1432276|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Argon was first isolated from air in 1894 by [[John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|Lord Rayleigh]] and Sir [[William Ramsay]] at [[University College London]] by removing [[oxygen]], [[carbon dioxide]], water, and [[nitrogen]] from a sample of clean air.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|
{{cite journal
 |author=Lord Rayleigh
 |author-link=Lord Rayleigh
 |author2=Ramsay, William
 |author2-link=William Ramsay
 |date=1894–1895
 |title=Argon, a New Constituent of the Atmosphere
 |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society]]
 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=265–287
 |doi=10.1098/rspl.1894.0149
 |jstor=115394
|doi-access=free
 }}|
{{cite journal
 |author=Lord Rayleigh
 |author2=Ramsay, William
 |date = 1895
 |title = VI. Argon: A New Constituent of the Atmosphere
 |journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
 |volume = 186 |pages = 187–241
 |doi= 10.1098/rsta.1895.0006
 |jstor=90645
|bibcode = 1895RSPTA.186..187R |doi-access=free}}|
{{cite web
 |last=Ramsay |first=W.
 |date=1904
 |title=Nobel Lecture
 |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1904/ramsay-lecture.html
 |publisher=[[The Nobel Foundation]]
}}}}</ref> They first accomplished this by replicating an experiment of [[Henry Cavendish]]'s. They trapped a mixture of atmospheric air with additional oxygen in a test-tube (A) upside-down over a large quantity of dilute [[alkali]] solution (B), which in Cavendish's original experiment was potassium hydroxide,<ref name="Cave1785" /> and conveyed a current through wires insulated by U-shaped glass tubes (CC) which sealed around the platinum wire electrodes, leaving the ends of the wires (DD) exposed to the gas and insulated from the alkali solution. The arc was powered by a battery of five [[Grove cell]]s and a [[Ruhmkorff coil]] of medium size. The alkali absorbed the oxides of nitrogen produced by the arc and also carbon dioxide. They operated the arc until no more reduction of volume of the gas could be seen for at least an hour or two and the spectral lines of nitrogen disappeared when the gas was examined. The remaining oxygen was reacted with alkaline pyrogallate to leave behind an apparently non-reactive gas which they called argon.

[[File:Lord Rayleigh Vanity Fair 21 December 1899.jpg|thumb|160px|Captioned "Argon", caricature of [[John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|Lord Rayleigh]] in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 1899]]
Before isolating the gas, they had determined that nitrogen produced from chemical compounds was 0.5% lighter than nitrogen from the atmosphere. The difference was slight, but it was important enough to attract their attention for many months. They concluded that there was another gas in the air mixed in with the nitrogen.<ref>
{{cite news
 |date=3 March 1895
 |title=About Argon, the Inert; The New Element Supposedly Found in the Atmosphere
 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E3D61139E033A25750C0A9659C94649ED7CF
 |work=[[The New York Times]]
 |access-date = 1 February 2009
}}</ref> Argon was also encountered in 1882 through independent research of H. F. Newall and W. N. Hartley.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Emsley |first1=John |title=Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0198503407 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-Xu07p3cKwC&pg=PA36 |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref> Each observed new lines in the [[emission spectrum]] of air that did not match known elements.

Prior to 1957, the symbol for argon was "A". This was changed to Ar after the [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]] published the work ''[[Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry]]'' in 1957.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|
{{cite web
 |last=Holden |first=N. E.
 |date=12 March 2004
 |title=History of the Origin of the Chemical Elements and Their Discoverers
 |url=http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/content/elements.html
 |publisher=[[National Nuclear Data Center]]
}}|{{Citation |title=Commission II.2: Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry |date=1957 |publisher=International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) |via=Science History Institute Archives |url=https://sciencehistory.libraryhost.com/repositories/3/archival_objects/38117|access-date=September 3, 2024}}}}</ref>