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It's not unique in that. There are other single-atom molecules.
by jazoom 8y ago
It's not unique in that. There are other single-atom molecules.
- monochromatic 8y agoIt's not unique. It's just the smallest.
- jazoom 8y agoThat point has already been well-established in all the other comments.
- rocqua 8y agoIm guessing it's the only one that's gaseous at room temperature and pressure? Edit: Never mind, all the nobel gasses.
- dogma1138 8y agoIt’s not all the Nobel gases, elemental Xenon is Xe2, so are the rest I think they are also not that Nobel anymore everyone of them besides helium was found to form compounds. Edit: apparently even helium can form compounds it’s just freaking hard to force it to play nice with others - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas_compound https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas_compound
- saagarjha 8y agoXenon is usually found in atomic form. Xenon dimers are not generally found naturally.
- Stratoscope 8y agoAt the risk of sounding fussy, and hopefully just to inform, these are called "noble gases", and it isn't capitalized (except of course at the beginning of a sentence). No connection with the Nobel Prize or anything else with that name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas
- kenneth 8y agoNoble, like nobility, not Nobel, like the Swedish chemist.
- analog31 8y agoRight. "Noble" is also used for the noble metals -- gold, platinum, etc., which are relatively non-reactive.
- andrewflnr 8y agoHuh. I would not have guessed Xenon formed dimers at all, but I'm still skeptical that's its usual elemental form...
- warrenm 8y agonit-pick ... Noble Gas, not "Nobel Gas"
- dogma1138 8y agoTIL, which others? I thought other noble cases are dimers like Xenon also unlike helium I think all of them now found to form some compounds especially with the fluoride family.
- nabla9 8y agoAll noble gases exist as monoatomic elements. They don't form compounds easily but there exist molecules containing at least xenon, radon. Even helium can be made to participate in reactions if pressure is high enough.
- mnw21cam 8y agoYou only tend to get a noble gas reacting with something if you approach the arena of irresistible force (fluorine) meets unmovable object (xenon), and get Xenon Tetrafluoride. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_tetrafluoride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_tetrafluoride The noble gases have complete electron shells and are quite satisfied with themselves, not needing any bonds with anything else. However, the larger the atom, the more flexibility it has with how many electrons it can hide down the back of the sofa. Xenon is the largest non-radioactive noble gas, so it was the first to have a noble gas compound discovered. Fluorine is just desperate to acquire an electron to complete its electron shell, and will do it by whatever dirty tricks it can manage, which is why it is able to wrest one from Xenon's tight grasp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas_compound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas_compound This sort of thing (along with Derek Lowe's blog) makes chemistry interesting for me.
- tshaddox 8y agoI don’t know anything about chemistry beyond high school (US public school) but presumably helium is the smallest single-atom molecule you’ll encounter if hydrogen is off the table.