Krypton was discovered in 1898 by W. Ramsay and M.W. Travers in the residue of liquid air. Its name comes from the Greek kryptos = ‘the hidden one’. Kr has the atomic number 36. It has 6 stable isotopes 78Kr, 80Kr, 82Kr, 83Kr, 84Kr and 86Kr, with respective atomic masses of 77.920368, 79.913680, 81.913482, 82.914135, 83.911507 and 85.910616. Its atomic weight is 83.80 g/mol; melting point: 116.55 K; boiling point: 119.80 K. The atomic diameter is 3.58 Å. Gas density is 3.733 kg/m3 at 1 atm and 237.15 K. Krypton has the electron configuration 1s22s2p6 3s2p6d10 4s2p6 and a first ionization potential of 13.999 eV. Its valence is usually 0, but 2, 4, 6 and 8 are observed. It forms the hydride ion KrH+, krypton difluoride KrF2 and a hydroquinone clathrate [C6H4(OH)2]3. 0.74Kr, which forms stable crystals (Cook, 1961).
Dry air contains 1.14 × 10−4 vol.% krypton with 78Kr/84Kr, 80Kr/84Kr, 82Kr/84Kr, 83Kr/84Kr and 86Kr/84Kr ratios of 0.006087, 0.03960, 0.20217, 0.20136 and 0.30524...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Cook G.A. (1961) Argon, helium and the rare gases, The Elements of the Helium Group, Vol 1. New York: Interscience Publishers.
Eikenberg, J., Signer, P. and Wieler, R. (1993) U–Xe, U–Kr, and U-Pb systematics for dating uranium minerals and investigations of the production of nucleogenic neon and argon. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 57, 1053–69.
Stute, M., Schlosser, P., Clark, J.F. and Broecker, W.S. (1992) Paleotemperatures in the southwestern United States derived from noble gases in ground water. Science, 256, 1000–2.
Cross-reference
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this entry
Cite this entry
Staudacher, T. (1998). Krypton . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_175
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_175
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-75500-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4496-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive