Why inert gases are stable

This particular resource used the following sources:. Skip to main content. Periodic Properties. Search for:. The Noble Gases Group Learning Objective Identify the properties of the noble gases. Key Points Noble gases are colorless, odorless, tasteless, and nonflammable gases under standard conditions. In the periodic table, the noble gases are arranged according to their boiling point. Noble gases are widely used in different fields, from incandescent lighting to excimer lasers.

Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Could you give a reference to your statement? Constants Of Diatomic Molecules, K. Huber G. Uncle Al Uncle Al 8, 13 13 silver badges 29 29 bronze badges. You need high pressures to get these compounds. Xe reacts with PtF6 like shot, on a vacuum line or at 77 kelvin in liquid SF6, doi While informative, without context this answer is a bit misleading. It seals better, prevents galling, and facilitates dismounting.

If it is aluminum pipe, the taped joint often explodes. All the fun is in the footnotes. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. Early incandescent light bulbs, like the one pictured in the figure below, didn't last very long.

The filaments quickly burned out. Although air was pumped out of the bulb, it wasn't a complete vacuum. Oxygen in the small amount of air remaining inside the light bulb reacted with the metal filament.

This corroded the filament and caused dark deposits on the glass. Filling a light bulb with argon gas prevents these problems. That's why modern light bulbs are filled with argon. Noble gases are also used to fill the glass tubes of lighted signs like the one in the figure below. Although noble gases are chemically nonreactive, their electrons can be energized by sending an electric current through them.

When this happens, the electrons jump to a higher energy level. When the electrons return to their original energy level, they give off energy as light. Different noble gases give off light of different colors. The noble gases are the chemical elements in group 18 of the periodic table. They are the most stable due to having the maximum number of valence electrons their outer shell can hold.

Other characteristics of the noble gases are that they all conduct electricity, fluoresce, are odorless and colorless, and are used in many conditions when a stable element is needed to maintain a safe and constant environment. The noble gases were previously referred to as inert gases, but this term is not strictly accurate because several of them do take part in chemical reactions.

Reference Terms. Therefore, they rarely react with other elements since they are already stable. This chemical series contains helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon.