Properties of Noble Gases: Everyday Uses

There may be a lot more elements out there, but currently we’ve discovered and classified 118 of them. Many of these elements are things you encounter in your daily life. Take a breath. That’s nitrogen, oxygen and a number of different trace elements that make up the air you breathe. Today, we’ll take a closer look at the properties of noble gases. What are the chemical properties of noble gases, their uses and where might you encounter them in your daily life?

Properties of Noble Gas and Order of Abundance

Noble gases, as their name suggests, are almost always found in gaseous form. Thankfully, none of them are flammable. This is one of the primary properties of noble gases. These elements make up the last column of the periodic table, and this group is made up of seven elements:

More Abundant	Less Abundant
Helium	Xenon
Neon	Radon
Argon	Oganesson
Krypton

They were considered inert gases when they were discovered, because they don’t react with other elements. Scientists used to believe they were incapable of actually interacting with other elements, but modern scientists have disproved this.

While they were once considered rare, most of them are fairly abundant in the Earth’s crust. The only exception to this is oganesson, which is an artificially created element. Only a few atoms have ever been made.

Noble Gases Chemical Properties and Physical Traits

Noble gases are considered stable — they have the maximum number of valence electrons possible in their outer layer, so they don’t have any need to interact with other elements.

What are the other properties and uses of noble gases?

They are all found naturally in their gaseous form, and all the members of this element group are capable of conducting electricity and emitting fluorescence, or light, when charged. They are also odorless and colorless.

The chemical properties of noble gases demand this state. All the gases need to maintain their stability is a consistent environment. That’s why helium, one of the first noble gases to be discovered, doesn’t react with the rubber of the balloon that holds it.

Two other important chemical properties of noble gases include their extremely low melting and boiling points.

Real-Life Applications

Noble gases aren’t easy to spot, because they’re both colorless and odorless, so where might you encounter them in the real world?

Helium

Helium is the most abundant element in the universe, and, in a strange twist, we found it on the sun before we discovered it here on Earth! An astronomer noticed a yellow line in the sun’s spectrum, which he theorized was helium. It gets its name from Helios, the Greek god of the sun. There isn’t much of it in our atmosphere, only making up 0.0005% of the air we breathe, but we’ve found plenty of uses for this member of the noble gas family.

Uses for Helium

• Deep-sea diving: Deep-sea divers mix oxygen and helium to create a nitrogen-free atmosphere for them to breathe. This setup prevents nitrogen narcosis when they dive deep and ascend quickly.
• Cryogenic materials: Liquid helium is a valuable coolant and is necessary for the operation of particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider at Cern and the electron accelerator at the Department of Energy’s Jefferson Lab.
• Balloons: Helium is lighter than air, so it’s often in balloons, blimps and other things that need to float.
• Welding: The inertness of helium is perfect for arc welding, which is particularly helpful in modern tech like renewable energies.
• Airbags: Cars are safer because helium inflates airbags in case of a collision.

Neon

Neon is one of many noble gasses that scientists discovered while studying liquefied air. Most of the noble gasses make up a small portion of the air we breathe. Neon, for example, accounts for 0.0018% of the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s much more common once you leave the planet behind, becoming the fourth most abundant element in the universe.

Uses for Neon

• Advertising signs: Most of the neon we harvest goes to creating advertising signs. When you run electricity through a tube filled with neon gas, it glows.
• Lasers: When combined with helium, neon is a popular substance for the creation of lasers
• Detecting fracking leaks: Neon is great at finding trace amounts of methane and other volatile gases.
• Cryogenic materials: Liquid neon is also a valuable cryogenic material, though it isn’t used as often as helium or nitrogen. It is particularly helpful for preserving biological specimen for medical research.
• Other lights: The amount of lights neon powers goes past cool 80’s-inspired advertisements. Neon also powers traffic signals and car lights.
• Televisions: Old TVs used to contain tubers neon would travel through that would keep TVs powered and bright for hours on end.

Argon

It might not sound like much, but argon is the most abundant noble gas in the atmosphere, making up 0.93% of the air we breathe. Like most of the other elements in the noble gases family, it’s got a completely full outer electron shell, rendering it completely inert. It even gets its name from the Greek word argos, meaning inactive.

Uses for Argon

• Welding: Argon is often used in arc welding to create an oxygenless atmosphere around the weld to protect it from oxidation while it solidifies.
• Light bulbs: While we don’t use them as often anymore, argon is a key component in both incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs. The noble gas protects the filaments from oxidation.
• Growing semiconductor crystals: Argon also helps manufacturers create oxygenless environments where they can grow semiconductor crystals for other applications.
• Food packaging: Argon keeps food fresh in a package for longer.
• Metalmaking: This gas contributes to steel, aluminum and more for several purposes, including removing hydrogen.
• Dating: Researchers can use carbon to date samples up to 100,000 years old.

Krypton

It might share its name with Superman’s home planet, but krypton exists right here on Earth. It’s named for kryptos, the Greek word meaning hidden, and makes up around 0.0001% of the planet’s atmosphere. It doesn’t have nearly as many uses as the other members of the noble gas family.

Uses for Krypton

• Photographic flashes: Krypton and argon are both popular for creating photo flashes for high-speed photography.
• Advertising signs: When paired with an electrical charge, krypton is popular for advertisement signs because it glows bright green. It’s also used for regular fluorescent lamps.
• Measurement: One isotope of this element, krypton-86, has a very sharp spectral signature. In 1960, the scientific community agreed that this was the exact measurement of a meter.
• Leak detection: Much like neon, krypton-85 can find leaks in sealed containers.
• Cinematography: Krypton illuminates film and video, making it visible from long distances.
• Semiconductor chips: Lasers are a common application for krypton, which you’ve likely heard in laser light shows the most. However, they also etch circuits into silicon semiconductors.
• Windows: Experts can put krypton in-between window panes to increase their insulating properties, leading to a more energy-efficient home.

Xenon

Xenon only makes up 0.0000087% of our atmosphere. It shares its name with the Greek word for stranger because it can be so hard to find. It might be a stranger, but we’ve still found a few uses for it.

Uses for Xenon

• Strobe lights: Xenon doesn’t glow when you introduce an electrical current. Instead, it flashes a brilliant white light, making it perfect for creating strobe lights.
• Sterilization: Xenon lamps generate light on such a frequency that it’s capable of destroying bacteria on surfaces and in the air.
• Ruby lasers: Flash tubes filled with xenon help power ruby lasers used in medicine.
• Lamps: Xenon powers a diverse array of lamps, including headlamps and bactericidal lamps. This is possible because it emits ultraviolet light.
• Anesthesia: Xenon is usable as a general anesthetic for medical applications, though it does have a hefty price tag.

Radon

Radon is colorless and odorless, just like the rest of the members of the noble gas family. The main difference is it’s also radioactive and can create a risk if it seeps into houses. There is very little radon gas in the atmosphere at any given time, but the decay of radioactive elements like radium and uranium creates more.

Uses for Radon

• Cancer therapy: Radon’s inherent radioactivity made it useful for cancer therapy. Hospitals could seal radon gas in glass tubes and implant them directly into the tumors as a kind of targeted radiation therapy.
• Arthritis treatment: When suspended in water, radon gas may treat arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, though the treatment is highly controversial and not widely used.
• Earthquake tracking: Changes in radon in groundwater could signal oncoming seismic activity.

Households will want to track radon in their homes with indoor air quality monitors. It is naturally very abundant, but it’s not the safest element to be around for extended periods of time. It mostly leaks from rocks, like granite. So, if you live in a building with a significant amount of radon-producing materials, get your home tested to see if it’s impacting your family.

Oganesson

Oganesson is actually a metal, but it currently belongs to the noble gas family because of its atomic weight and location on the periodic table. It is an artificially created element, though, so its only current use is research and doesn’t have any similar applications for uses of other noble gases. Only a few atoms of it have been created so far, so if it did develop any uses outside of research, humans would have to find a way to replicate it quickly for commercial applications.

Nobles Gases, Explained

Even though you might not be mining noble gases, you can still encounter them in your daily life in the sneakiest ways. It could be the reason a medical treatment goes the way you want. It could also be the reason behind a successful movie night at the drive-in. The range of noble gases is long, extensive and versatile. Smile the next time you grab a balloon at a birthday party — you’ve got one of the noble gases in the palm of your hand!

What properties of noble gases did you find the most interesting? Comment below to let us know!

This article originally published 10/04/2018. We updated it on 12/18/2024 to expand the section of Real Life Applications with more in-depth uses of noble gases.