How do noble gases form compounds?

GoodVibe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas_compound Jul 15 06, 4:48 AM

zbeckabee

THEY don't, WE do. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/04/020402074834.htm Jul 15 06, 7:02 AM

Baloo55th

For the benefit of those who don't know about noble gases and the difficulties in obtaining their compounds, could I ask for slightly more than web references that may change or vanish? Jul 15 06, 3:17 PM

What-A-Mess

Noble Gases (inert gases) are the elements listed in the 18th column of the Periodic chart. All of them have a full outer shell (s & p) of 8 electrons. Helium, for obvious reasons, has only 2. Because molecular bonds require the coupling, sharing or combining of outer shell electron paths, and outer shells are limited to 8 electrons,these gases are not able to interact with other elements easily. Noble gas compounds do exist but only with the help of man and the "un-natural" controlled enviornments that we can create. There is not enough room in this forum to go into detail about these processes. Nor could I give you more than I know. Jul 15 06, 3:31 PM

zbeckabee

The chemists created their first noble gas compound by chance, Bursten said, largely because of some unexpected results obtained by the Virginia group in some follow-up experiments. "It's like that quote, 'luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,'" he said. "We got lucky. We were working hard to cover all bases on a different aspect of the chemistry, and when we got some strange results, we were able to recognize what was happening." They were studying a molecule with the formula CUO, which is formed from the reaction of uranium atoms with carbon monoxide. The Ohio State and Virginia teams have been studying molecules like CUO in order to better understand how the radioactive metals react with small molecules, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water. Using equipment at the University of Virginia, they produced molecules of CUO in the noble gas neon. For that experiment, the neon atoms simply formed a protective "cage" around the CUO at very low temperatures (4 Kelvin, about -270°C or -450°F) to preserve the molecules for study. "We were studying the reactions of uranium atoms with carbon monoxide in solid neon," Andrews said. "When we repeated the experiments in solid argon, we got distinctly different spectra, which was our first clue that an unusually strong interaction was occurring between CUO and argon. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/04/020402074834.htm Jul 15 06, 3:51 PM