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=The Element Argon = toc
 * NONMETAL**

**Discovery-** **Where and When?**
It was sought to be studied by Cavendish in 1785, but Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay in England discovered the element of Argon in 1894. They were conducting an experiment in which they removed all of the oxygen and nitrogen from a sample of air. Ramsay removed the oxygen and nitrogen from a quantity of liquid air through distillation. He found that there was a small residue of gas left. He put this residue in a glass tube and electrically excited it. When he studied the excited gas with a spectroscope, Ramsay discovered a new pattern of lines. Thus the discovery of Argon. Argon became the first member of the noble gases to be discovered. The symbol for argon is now **Ar**, but up until 1957 it was **A.**

**Where Is It Found?**
Argon is found in the air. It exists free in nature and naturally occurs in three isotopes.

Physical Properties
Argon is a tasteless, odorless, colorless noble gas. Its freezing point is  –308.8°F and its boiling point is very cold at the state of  –302.6°F.

Argon is present in the Earth's atmosphere at slightly less than 1 % making it the most common noble gas on Earth. Its abundance on Earth's crust is approximately 0.5 log. It has three isotopes. These isotopes are not radioactive.

USES AND COSTS![[image:argon_1.jpg align="left" caption="Argon Cost Rates Between $2.80 and $4.80 per liter"]]
It is used in electric light bulbs and in fluorescent tubes and also in filling photo tubes, glow tubes, etc. Argon is also used as an inert gas shield for arc welding and cutting, as blanket for the production of titanium and other reactive elements, and as a protective atmosphere for growing silicon and germanium crystals. Also used in "Geiger" counters, which measure radiation levels. Argon costs between $2.80 and $4.80 per liter.

Fun Facts!

 * Argon, at room temperature is so dipersed that is //appears// to be a colorless, odorless gas but at -39°C it has the smell of bananas.
 * Argon comes from the Greek word argos, meaning inactive
 * Names of Argon in Other Languages
 * Latin:** Argon
 * Czech:** Argon
 * Croatian:** Argon
 * French:** Argon
 * German:** Argon - r
 * Italian:** Argo
 * Norwegian:** Argon
 * Portuguese:** Argônio
 * Russian:** [[image:http://environmentalchemistry.com/images/periodic/Russian/Ar.gif?ad=/banners/ads&ID=342529 caption="graphic of Russian name for the element Argon"]]
 * Spanish:** Argón
 * Swedish:** Argon
 * Numbers: ELECTRONS-18 PROTONS-18 NEUTRONS-22
 * Atomic Mass: 39.948

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Bibliographies “Argon.” periodic.lanl.gov. Dec. 2003. University of California. 11 Nov. 2008 . “Argon.” www.chemicool.com. 10 Nov. 2008 . “Argon (Ar) Properties, Uses, Applications.” www.uigi.com. 2007. 10 Nov. 2008 . “Argon Isotopes.” ar-argon.info. 2007. 10 Nov. 2008 .

Book Source Stwertka, Albert. The Guide to Elements. Second ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Refrences
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/argon.html http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/18.html http://www.uigi.com/argon.html http://ar-argon.info/isotopes.html http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/Ar.html#Overview