Who was the first person to discover the element argon?

Argon was prepared by Henry Cavendish in 1785, but it was not discovered that it was a new element. It was not until 1894 that John William Strass and the Scottish chemist William Ramsay experimentally determined that argon was a new element.

Argon, non-metallic element, element symbol ar. The elemental substance is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas. It is one of the most abundant noble gases in the air, and argon is the earliest rare gas found in nature due to its large content in nature.

Chemically inactive, argon cannot be burned or combustible to support combustion.

Mr. Nozomi Yamaoka, a Japanese historian of chemistry, said, "In the history of modern chemistry, there is no case in the history of modern chemistry that has surpassed the discovery of argon elements by following the academic path pioneered by our predecessors, understanding the research motivations of our predecessors, learning from their research strategies, and following the example of their diligent spirit of stopping hail." "The discovery of the argon element began with a tiny weight in the third decimal place - the gram.

In 1892, the British physicist Rayleigh repeatedly measured the gram per liter of helium obtained from air (at that time it was believed to be composed of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor), while the nitrogen obtained from helium compounds weighed grams per liter. In order to be accurate enough, Rayleigh redid the experiment and used an electric spark to pass two types of nitrogen, enclosed them, and let them stand for 8 months, with the result that the weight difference between them remained unchanged. Confused, Rayleigh turned to other chemists for help.

Rayleigh's friend, chemist Lemse, was open-minded. He thinks the reason for the heavier nitrogen extracted from the air may be that the air contains an unknown heavier gas. In fact, more than 80 years ago, Cavendish had already discovered that in the discharge experiments of oxygen and nitrogen, there is always a part of the gas that cannot be oxidized and remains to the end, and the remaining amount is 1 120.

What a careful observer! It's a pity that no chemist has paid attention to this for more than 100 years.1 120 Rayleigh collaborated with Lemsey's research to continue the exploration.

On August 13, 1894, they passed the nitrogen obtained from the air through heated magnesium, removed the magnesium oxide produced, and left a small amount of gas, and analyzed it spectroscopically, and obtained the spectrum of bright light with red and green. They called the air bucket, a new element that is denser than nitrogen and occupies the atmosphere, "argon".

On August 13, 1894, Rayleigh and Lemse, who were hypothetically using the magnesium obtained in the air to heat the magnesium oxide and leave a small amount of gas, analyzed the spectrum of bright light with red and green colors. They called this new element, which has a high nitrogen density and occupies the atmosphere, "argon".

In the lab, Rayleigh redoes the same experiments that Cavendish had done 109 years ago. He used a large round-bottomed flask to be upside down in the alkaline water tank, and two metal wires were passed through the flask, the tips of which were only a few centimeters apart. An electric spark is then generated by electricity, which vaporizes the oxygen and nitrogen in the air in the bottle into nitrogen dioxide.

In addition, the caustic soda solution is passed through a glass tube to the bottle to absorb the nitrogen dioxide generated. He finally got enough gas.

Ramsey took a different approach. He used desiccant to remove water, soda lime to remove carbon dioxide, and hot mountain copper scraps to remove oxygen, and successively removed these components in the air. He then let the gas flow through the porcelain tube filled with red-hot magnesium chips again and again.

Magnesium chips react with most of the nitrogen to form magnesium nitride, leaving a small portion of the gas. In this way, every time the hot magnesium chips pass through, the volume of the gas will be reduced a little bit, and the density will be increased. The last remaining bit of gas, as it passes through the hot magnesium chips, no longer shrinks in volume and no longer increases in density.

Ramsay encapsulates the gas in a glass tube with electrodes welded to both ends, and when it is energized, the gas in the glass tube glistens. Examination with a spectroscope reveals orange and green lines in the spectrum. This is a spectral line that is not found in a known element, and is a new element.

The physicist Rayleigh asked the question two years ago, and this time the chemists helped figure it out. It turns out that nitrogen made from nitrogen compounds is pure nitrogen and has a lower density; The nitrogen obtained from the air is impure, dense, and mixed with some unknown gases.

This newly discovered gaseous element does not react chemically with hydrogen, chlorine, fluorine, and various metals, nor does it have any chemical interaction with carbon and sulfur. Regardless of heating, pressurization, or electric sparks, or using platinum as a catalyst, it still does not react with any substance. Based on this property, scientists named it "argon".

The Greek word for argon means "lazy".