Argon - Periodic Table of Videos 

I was going to make a pun about this video, but all the good ones argon :(

I'm wondering if I can connect a neon transformer to my argon-filled windows, and make them glow :)

The explanation of why liquid Argon is transparent to infrared light was fascinating! Love the videos. Thank you.

I am surprised he didn't talk about argon being used for TIG welding. Argon is a great gas for shielding when welding to prevent oxidation in steel.

Argon is used extensively as a sheilding gas in welding.

I need a lamp like that so I can label the switch argon/argoff.

after hearing all that's involved in creating a compound of Argon, I'd say it's still pretty accurate for its name to derive from the Greek for "idle"

I want to find love that feels as sweet as this man's love for argon.

0:27 For all of us who know how truly brave this man is.

I grew up in an extremely cold town in northern Minnesota (it can get to -40 in January) and the main industry in our town is windows and most of them are double glazed (sp?). I always knew they had argon in them for insulation but I never knew exactly why until now. Thanks for the video professor!

i would love a video talking about all the books on his shelf!

Did you just make a video about argon without even mentioning an argon laser!?!?!?! You DID!

That was a great video! Fairly easy to make it into liquid form.

I wonder if lightning hit a building with argon insulated windows, would they all glow blue?

Can you guys please make a video explaining the structure of the atom (with orbitals ,sub-shells and 3D animation of the shape of the the orbitals). I Know that I am asking too much (3D animation of orbitals) ,but again it will be very helpful for everyone who likes physical chemistry. :D

Argon and Oxygen walk into a bar. The landlord points to the door. "We don't serve noble gases, get out!" Argon doesn't react.

When I heard double glazing I was expecting doughnuts.

I use argon, lots of it, daily. A cylinder or two at best. We use it as inert gas for welding (MIG and TIG), or if combined with CO2 as an active gas. (MAG)

I know ALL the elements are done, But please keep them coming. Personally, I could watch or listen for over an hour just on one element. I wish I could have a drink with you Sir Martyn Poliakoff

Why was Neil hitting the tank with a hammer?

Nice "moving light" at electrodes

You know it's a great day when there's a new periodic table video!~

I'm surprised he didn't mention Argon's use in light bulbs either.

Argon is actually cheaper from some suppliers than N2. All the air-sensitive chemistry the labs I was in was always done with Ar for this reason

When I look out the window I'm looking through argon gas, except for a couple windows that are cracked and the gas has leaked out and nasty oxygen has got in there and reacted with the coatings on the inside of the glass so I can't see out of it very well anymore.

I didn't find it at all boring that my double glazing might be full of argon, thank you.

And protecting welds during welding. Such as TIG and MIG welding.

KRS-5? I loved his stuff back in the 90's!

Argon is also used as Buffer Gas in many UV emitting Mercury LP and MP lamps.

Don’t think keeping your house warm by using argon gas glazing is boring. Nothing better that a warm house and low fuel bills!

Use argon all day at work, welding stainless steel pipework and for the purposes of that, have to think of it like a liquid ie because of being heavier than air..... makes a change to actually see it as a liquid 👍

I just had argon windows recently put in and I have to admit they do in fact insulate much better than the other ones we had.

ty nitrogen ^_^ @professor, look up triple pane windows ;) They are even better at insulating

Anyone here weld? Argon is used to weld stainless with a TIG MIG welders use CO2 AR as a shielding gas aka coogar gas

I know a person who's melting point is also very close to his boiling point. He is very hard to get along with. 😮

prof. what is the student in @5:22 looking through ? did that give the spectrum? what is the apparatus called?

The power of the '80s is strong in the pictures of the old apparatus ;)

The way the Prof constantly wags his hands up and down, if they connected them to the power grid he would generate a lot of electricity. 😊

Not only do the (relatively heavy) atoms of Argon move more slowly than, for example N2, but, because energy increases as the square of velocity, they transfer less of it with each traversal between the panes of double-pane glass. Challenge: create foamed glass from molten glass and pressurized Argon.

he really shouldn't hit tanks with a hammer! @_@; also Argon is a pirates fav thing! :D

Can someone explain to me how a solution works on an atomic level? I know the basic rule of thumb is like dissolves like (hence the reason water is a universal solvent because it has both polar and non-polar ends), but it never quite made sense to me why some chemical reactions don't take place. For example, water dissolves table salt and "separates" chlorine and sodium. When you drink the solution, it tastes salty, but it's no longer "salt" along with the fact that if they are actually separate, sodium would explode and chlorine would be poisonous. The individual salt elements aren't in a chemical bond with water, otherwise you wouldn't get salt crystals back after evaporating the water. It even differs on how the "separation" works depending on the type of bond. An ionic bond "separates" the individual elements, while a covalent bond separates the individual molecules. What about temperature? In theory, the thermal energy helps separate the individual components, but there's a solute or solvent (I forget what it is) that increases solubility when it's colder, not hotter.

As a professional welder, it freaks me out a little bit to see Neil hammering on the shroud around the cylinder valve.

Argon is used to displace air inside bottles of wine and spirits, to keep the drink from oxidizing.

My favourite gas is argon and hydrogen gas because it is a nice purple colour when energized

When your so intelligent you make a statement and than argue with yourself about it being true in the now.

Hey Periodic Videos, I loved that you showed how violently the argon escapes from the copper coil once it warms up. As a chemistry student my supervisors always told me to be careful to not condense Argon while working under inert conditions and low temperatures, because, as we've seen, it boils very vigorously an can explode your glassware. Now I've finally seen that! Thanks

Could you do a video on the chemistry of cutting onions and why it makes you cry

Just enraptured with all the knowledge herein dispensed.

Noble gases are always fun to play with.

Neil is the most chilled laboratory assistant on the planet 😂🤣🙏🙌

My favorite element. Here in Saskatchewan we use triple glazed windows to deal with -40 and lots of wind.

Dang..everyone already took all the argon puns!

I'm starting to think youtubers are the reason why there is so much nitrogen and noble gases in air

Argon is also sometimes used in dry suits when diving, especially with helium mixes, because of its superior insulating properties compared to air and helium

Neil content! New Periodic Video! Happy!

I thought that was really interesting about the windows!

The professor has terrific knowledge

8:01 Argon all gone. Bloody hard to write a good chemistry joke these days cause all the good ones argon.

i'd tell a science joke but all of them argon

Thank you for continuing to produce Periodic Videos!

Bring on the Argon (are gone) jokes and puns.

Too bad they didn't mention the interesting fact that most argon in the atmosphere is from the decay of potassium-40.

One very important use of Argon that I'm surprised you didn't mention is in TIG welding. TIG stands for Tungsten Inert Gas, and the inert gas that is used, the vast majority of the time, is Argon. Its weight is very good at displacing air (as you mentioned) and thus it is perfect to use when you need to create a weld that isn't affected by Oxygen.

After these gasses are boiled away it seems like it would be awfully difficult to capture those gasses again. Are gasses recycled after use? And if so, then how?

Argon gas is also very well used in welding

Argons is also used in Inductively Coupled Plasma techniques (ICP-OES, ICP-MS, etc)

Neil is the unsung hero of these videos.

It’s used to cool the seeker head in missiles too.

That is quite enlightening

Regarding argon compounds, Wikipedia claims ArH had been discovered in 1970 already.

I love how Neil is hitting the hard bottle with a hammer. Aaa, the hilarity insures in labs. My favorite experience was a helper that decided to warrn the valve to loosen a froze regulator nit and the valve stem. Needless to say, he was unemployed in short order

The legend is back

Argon is also used in incandescent light bulbs.

I think I may have mis-clicked... I was expecting a video on Sargon of Akkad (Founder of the Akkadian Empire, not the RU-vidr)

Argon is used in creating the plasma for ICP metals analysis.

Your voice reminds me of my grandpa when he used to tell me stories when I was little. Thanks for that.

That's cool

who is here because of school?

I just calculated that all the air in my entire house would only give 350 mL of liquid argon if it was all removed and cooled... wow! Don't go calculating the sq. footage of my house now... :)

I use argon as a shielding gas for TIG welding. The gas prevents the metals from burning in ambient oxygen when bits of them are heated up to some 5500C in the electric arc. Nitrogen cannot do this job because it too burns at those temperatures. One key challenge in TIG welding is to get the electrode and the workpiece reliably immersed in a moving stream of argon. Doing so is subject to many small problems. Central to the difficulty is that every repair or one-time fabrication job takes place in its own unique geometric puzzle. A skilled welder needs years of experience to develop intuition covering most of the situations she is likely to encounter.

So some of the particles in my liquid nitrogen could be solid argon... I never really thought about argon's freezing point. I assumed any solids were only water ice and dry ice. But, I'm guessing the solid argon is VERY minute. You could collect liquid air in a container inside another container of liquid nitrogen and skim all the solids off the liquid air and, if after a few seconds, you witness any boiling going on in the midst of those solids then there is liquid argon present. That's because CO2 sublimes and ice obviously just melts.

can we get a video about neil's magic experimental fingers

The newest generation of neutrino detectors are Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers. They're really clever devices that let you see the path of different kinds of particles.

Argon is..... just..... uhm... it's just argon okay?

Fun fact about argon: it's so common in the atmosphere because potassium-40 decays into it, with a half-life of 1.25 billion years. The atmosphere started with very little of it, just like the other noble gases, but it slowly accumulated as the K-40 decayed to Ar-40 (and Ca-40). The K-40 --> Ar-40 decay is the basis of potassium-argon dating.

I always learn new things when they put out a new video, even if theyve done one before they always add new lessons in the redux! Love ya professor!

So nothing about welding applications? Many types of Mig welding use a mix of Argon and CO for shielding the molten metal from oxygen

Niel has one of the best jobs in the world... it makes me really regret abandoning science in favour of computer programming.

At 5:31, the Professor says: "'Argon' apparently comes from the Greek word meaning 'idle'". That does put "Jason and the Argonauts" in a new light: "Jason and his bunch of lazy good-for-nothings". It sounds like what Medea would have called them.

As a neon bender myself, might I add a small note about the color demonstrated with the argon light in this video. Argon does not glow like that on its own. Argon is a nice dim lavender which is difficult to see in a lit room, which is why we typically mix it with mercury gas in order to pair it with double phosphor coated glass (since plain argon will not be bright enough to make the glass glow). To my knowledge, mercury does that to neon as well, and we use it with neon mostly for glass that will be used in a colder environment... or whenever we run out of argon and are too lazy to order more. I haven't tried it with other gasses as we don't usually stock them.

Ish. Please don't hit gas cylinder with a hammer like that ... Safety FIRST

How do you deal with PPE requirements? I didn't see people wearing breathers. How do you deal with the gas in the air, or is it a trivial matter to restore adequate breathing environment?

[Science -- N. S. Vol. I No. 12. -- March 22, 1895.] ARGON. The plain facts concerning argon are these: For some time past Lord Rayleigh has been engaged on refined work involving the weighing of various gases. Last year he found that the nitrogen obtained from the air is a little heavier than that made from definite chemical compounds. This led him to further experiments and, at the same time, Professor W. Ramsay, of University College, London, also undertook experiments with the object of explaining, if possible, the discrepancy. The general method of work consisted in passing air, first through substances that have the power to remove those constituents that are present in small quantities, such as water vapor, carbonic-acid gas, etc., then through a heated tube containing copper. The oxygen of the air unites with the heated copper, and what has hitherto been regarded as nitrogen remains uncombined. This ‘atmospheric nitrogen’ was subsequently treated in three different ways for the purpose of removing the nitrogen from it. (1) It was drawn through clay pipes in the hope that, if the gas is a mixture, one of the constituents would pass through the porous material more easily than the other, and at least a partial separation be thus effected. While something was accomplished in this way, the experiment was on the whole unsatisfactory. (2) The ‘atmospheric nitrogen’ was mixed with oxygen in a vessel containing caustic alkali, and electric sparks were passed through the mixture. Under these circumstances the oxygen united with nitrogen and formed a compound which is soluble in alkali. After no further absorption of nitrogen could be effected by sparking, any unchanged oxygen present was removed, and there was then found a residue of gas which was certainly not oxygen nor nitrogen. This proved to be the substance about which the world is now talking. In this connection it is of great interest to note that Cavendish, in 1785, probably had this same substance before him free from nitrogen. He performed the experiment above described, and noticed the residue, and says in regard to it: “We may safely conclude that it is not more than 1/120 of the whole.” This is very nearly the truth as regards the relative amount of argon in the air. (3) The most satisfactory method for obtaining the gas on the large scale consists in passing ‘atmosphere nitrogen’ over highly-heated magnesium, which has the power of uniting with nitrogen, while the newly-discovered gas has not this power. But, even by this method, the preparation is very slow, and, up to the present, the gas cannot easily be obtained in large quantity. The new substance is heavier than nitrogen. The density of hydrogen being taken as unity, that of nitrogen is 14, of oxygen 16, and of argon 19.7. Perhaps the most remarkable property of argon is its inertness. It has not been possible thus far to get it to combine with any other substance, so that anything more than a general comparison with known substances is out of the question. It owes its name to its inertness, argon being derived from two Greek words signifying ‘no work.’ A determination of the ratio of the specific heat of argon at constant pressure to that at constant volume was determined by means of observations on the velocity of sound in the gas, and the ratio was found to be 1.66. This is of much importance as showing that the particles of which the gas is made up act as individuals. If this conclusion is correct, it follows further that argon must be either a single element or a mixture of elements, and that, if it is a single element, its atomic weight must be nearly 40, as its density is 19.7 and its atom is identical with its molecule. Professor Crookes has studied the spectra of argon and, in an article giving his results in detail, he says: “I have found no other spectrum-giving gas or vapour yield spectra at all like those of argon.” * * * “As far, therefore, as spectrum work can decide, the verdict must, I think, be that Lord Rayleigh and Professor Ramsay have added one, if not two members to the family of elementary bodies.” Finally, Professor Olszewski, of Cracow, the well-known authority on the liquefaction of gases has succeeded in both liquifying and solidifying argon. It was found to boil at 186.9° C., and to solidify at 189.6° C., forming a mass resembling ice. To quote from Professor Ramsay’s article read before the Royal Society: “There is evidence both for and against the hypothesis that argon is a mixture: For, owing to Mr. Crookes’ observations of the dual character of its spectrum; against, because of Professor Olszewski’s statement that it has a definite melting point, a definite boiling point, and a definite critical temperature and pressure; and because, on compressing the gas in presence of its liquid, pressure remains sensibly constant until all gas has condensed to liquid.” The above is a brief account of all that is known about argon, and it would evidently be premature to indulge in speculation regarding its position in the system. It may as well be said at once that, if it is an element or a mixture of elements, it will apparently be difficult to find a place for it on Mendeléeff’s table. It will be well to await developments before worrying on this account. If the time should ever come when Mendeléeff’s table has to be given up, something better will take its place. The suggestion has been made repeatedly that argon is perhaps an allotropic form of nitrogen. The strongest argument against this view is the established fact that the gas conducts itself as if made up of individual particles, while any allotropic form of nitrogen, which is heavier than this, must, according to all that we know of such matters, consist of more complex molecules than nitrogen itself. IRA REMSEN. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.

KRS One is my favorite compound.

The name argon comes from the Greek for lazy, because it's a heavy gas that just doesn't react much. But it's the most abundant of the inert (unreactive) gases after helium, and it's put to work in many ways. It's idleness makes it perfect for adding to light bulbs to stop the elements from burning out. It's used in between glass panes in double glazing and in steelmaking to stop ingredients from oxidizing. It makes brilliant blue lights!

As a member of a group carrying out experiments with Breathing gasses in a Hyperbaric environment in the early 70's I can vouch for the fact that Argon was very quickly found to cause unpleasant reactions when included in a breathing gas mix. Even Helium can cause problems with the brain's electrical system (HPNS) at elevated pressures/percentages.

The business about argon (or any other gas other than air) in a "sealed" window is pure moonshine. If a window were hermetically sealed, it would burst or implode when the atmospheric pressure changed an inch of mercury (about 1/2 PSI, go figure the force on a 2 x 2' square window, it would be 288 pounds!)

Where can I get a Niel?

Where does the Lab purchase these Cylinders of Gases, such as Helium, Nitrogen, Argon, etc.? Are you able to purchase them from a Local Welding Gas Supplier?

All right, I have a question. Given that argon is incapable of forming stable compounds, displaces oxygen and is heavier than air, would it be useful to help extend the shelf life of optical discs (CDs, DVDs), by isolating them from oxidative processes?