The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-19
A NEW ELEMENT IN AIR
NATURE OF ARGoN AND THE HIS
TORY OF IT'S DISCOVERY.
Great Experimental Difficulties Were
Overcome by the Investigating
British Scientists.
New York Evening Post.

tention of the scientific world. A number of
elements have heen discovered in the last
quarter of a century, but all of them are
metallic substances which occur in minute
quantities in rare animals. The latest addi-
ton to the list of nonmetallic elements was
bromine, discovered nearly seventy years
ago. and the existence of an undiscovered
element belonging to this group did not ap-
pear probable. Still less likely did it seem
that such an element could be present in
the atmosphere. Our knowledge of the air
was satisfactory and complete. Innumerable
analyses had established the facts in regard
to its composition. Hence the announcement
above referred to was met with much skep-
ticism, in spite of the eminent character and
skill of the men who made it; and the whole
chemical world has waited anxiously and
impatiently for a full account OF the work.
This has now been given in a paper by Lord
Rayleigh and Professor Ramsay which was
read before the Royal Society at a special
meeting on Jan. 81. The long delay between
the preliminary announcement and the pre-
sentation of the paper is fully accounted for
by this statement of Lord Rayleigh's:
The research has been, in many respects,
a very difficult one. / am not without ex-
perience of experimental difficulties, but
certainly l have never encountered them in
anything like so severe and aggravating a
form as in this investigation. Every ex-
pertinent that one attempts takes about ten
days or a fortnight to carry out to any deli
mite conclusion, and the result has been, of
necessity, much less progress than we could
have hoped for. and many of the questions
have been left open which we could have
wished to SETTLE"
The history of the discovery is, in brief,
as follows: In the course of a series of de-
examinations of the densities of some of the
more permanent gases. Lord Rayleigh found
chemical compounds it was about one-half
per cent. lighter than If extracted from the
atmosphere. This discrepancy was. naturally
thought at first to be due to contamination
with impurities consisting OF known sub
stances. When experiments had demon
strated that this was not the case, the dis
ISOLATION of the molecules of the nitrogen
derived from chemical sources into detached
atoms suggested itself as a possible expla-
nation of it's greater lightness. But both
gases subjected to the action of the silent
electric discharge retained their d~ensities
unchanged. This was discouraging. and a
further experiment of a different kind dis
posed of this explanation in a still more de-
able that the nitrogen of chemical origin
could be a mixture, as that would necessi-
acid. The simplest remaining explanation
was to admit the existence of a second in
gredient in the nitrogen obtained from the
density half as much again as that of nitro
gen, the presence of l per cent. would suf-
fee to explain the observed differences in
density. This explanation brought the in
vestigators face to face with the great i'm
probability that a gas all about us and
present in such enormous quantity could
have remained so long unsupported. It's
demonstration demanded the isolation and
luenLlUcdLlOn Oh the new gas, anu 10 the So
luton of this problem the research was now
directed.
DISCOVERY FORESHADOWED.
It is interesting to note here that Caven-
dish, more than a hundred years ago, in his
careful and exact study of the atmospheric
nitrogen, had really raised this same ques-
ton of possible admixture with another gas.
Describing his attempts to cause a complete
union of atmospheric nitrogen with oxygen
- - -. AtT
there is any part of the phlogisticated air
nitrogen) of our atmosphere which differs
from the rest and cannot be reduced to
nitrous acid, We may safely conclude that it
is not more than 1-120th part of the whole
Cavendish, however, laid no emphasis on
this residual 1-10Oth, except as indicating by
its minuteness the great purity OF the nitro
gen from air. But in these days science no
longer neglectS residual phenomena and
has found, in many cases before this. abund-
ant evidence of the valuable results to be
obtained by study of them.
In the first attempts to isolate the sus-
pected gas, CavendiSh'S method was en-
ployed. Electric sparks were passed through
air confined over weak alkali, and oxygen
gradually added till in excess. The prod
ucts of the union of nitrogen and oxygen
caused by the spark were absorbed by the
alakli, and finally, when no further absorb
ton took place, the excess of oxygen was
removed by alkaline pyrogallate; A residue
was obtained which was in all instances
proportional to the amount of air operated
upon.
AnOIn6r In6IlOu " iSOldblIS lSO anu
which also serves for preparing it in consid-
cradle quantities., is as follows: Air from
which moisture and carbon dioxide nave
ing it over redhot copper, and from nitro
gen by magnesium %turnings heated to a
bright redness. The removal of the last por-
lions of nitrogen is a tedious operation, re-
quiring some two days, when the residual
The gas obtained by either of these meth
DDS has a density one-fourth greater than
oxygen 1920, and dissolves in water about
- - hale firnnC a c nnIx &c nifrnOanA
On account of it's Solubility it is present in
larger proportion in the gases dissolved in
bv the fact that nitrogen prepared from
the gases expelled from water has a higher
density than that from air.
The spectrum of argon has been exam
ined by Professor Crookes, who finds that
mo other spectrum-giving gas or vapor
and says further. .As far. therefore. as
spectrum work can decide, the verdict must
be that Lord Rayleigh and Professor Ram
sey have added one If not two members to
the family of elementary bodies"
Professor Olszewski,. of the University of
the liquefaction of air and other gases, was
furnished with 300 &C. of argon for the de-
termination of its behavior at low tenn
peratures and high pressures. He reports
that it can be liquefed only when its tenn
p~erature is reduced (by liquid ethylene) to
LII deg. c., and that the necessary pres
sure at that temperature is sos atmos-
pheres; or, in other words, that its critical
5o.s at. respectively. It's boiling point is
1863 deg. c.; it freezes to an icelike mass
at -191 deg, and melts at 1896 deg. In it's
behavior at low temperature it stands be-
tween oxygen and nitrogen, whose critical
temperatures are lis deg. and las deg,
respectively, and whose boiling points are
-1S2.7 deg. and -1944 deg.
INACTIVE ELEMENT. las
Chemically, argon appears to be more in
ert than nitrogen, all attempts to induce
chemical action with even the most active
substances having proved abortive.
The facts so far obtained do not warrant
a final decision in regard to its simplicity.
Ii not an element. it is a mixture. There
is evidence on both sides, but the balance
seems to be in favor of simplicity. Not
only does argon appear to be a single
elementary substance, but its molecules are
apparently of simplest possible structure.
Al determination of the ratio of its specific
heats at constant volume and co~nstant-pres-
sure points to the conclusion that its MOLE
culas are monatomic, /. e., composed of a
single atom each, instead of two atoms, as
is the case in almost all elementary gases
and vapors.
Certain very interesting and important
theoretical issues are raised by the conclu-
sion. In connection with the density which
the gas has, it indicates an atomic weigh
of 40. But in this case there is no place
for the new element in the tables of Mem
deleieff, which express the periodic law, and
x-binn ho4ra haap SO Srpnprally accented If