Noble Gases are not so Unreactive

Noble Gases are not so Unreactive

TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information

New understanding of noble gas behavior may solve a long-standing mystery surrounding the atmospheric abundance of xenon. Xenon is a noble gas and has similar properties to its lighter weight cousins helium, neon, and argon. Most notable among those properties is its chemical unreactivity. However, this poses a problem because xenon should be as abundant in the atmosphere as other noble gases when, in fact, it is highly depleted. A group of German scientists discovered that xenon reacts with silicate materials under high temperature and pressure. This find implies that xenon was incorporated into crustal rocks, thus explaining the depletion of atmospheric xenon. This discovery confirms the model of Earth’s formation outlined in RTB’s creation model.