The mineralogy of Radon
| About Radon |
|---|
| Radon is a noble gas and as such does not form any natural minerals. It is found naturally as a radioactive decay product in many radioactive minerals however. |
| General Properties | |
|---|---|
| Symbol: | Rn |
| Atomic Number: | 86 |
| Standard atomic weight (Ar): | [222] |
| Electron configuration: | [Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p6 |
| Photos | ||
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| < | Emission spectrum of radon | > |
| Atomic Properties | |
|---|---|
| Atomic Radius: | 120 pm |
| 1st Ionization energy: | 1037 kJ/mol |
| Oxidation States: | 2 |
| Physical Properties | |
|---|---|
| Standard State: | gas |
| Bonding Type: | atomic |
| Melting Point: | 202 K |
| Boiling Point: | 211 K |
| Density: | 0.01 g/cm3 |
| Metal/Non-Metal: | noble gas |
| Main isotopes of Radon | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isotope | % in Nature | Half Life | Decay type | Decay product |
| 210Rn | synthetic | 2.4h | α | 206Po |
| 211Rn | synthetic | 14.6h | ε | 211At |
| α | 207Po | |||
| 222Rn | trace | 3.8235d | α | 218Po |
| 224Rn | synthetic | 1.8h | β− | 224Fr |
| Main ions of Radon | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Ion | Example minerals | ||
| [RnF]+ | ||||
| Videos |
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| Other Information | |
|---|---|
| Year Discovered: | 1898 |
| Discovered By: |  Friedrich Ernst Dorn |
| Year Isolated: | 1910 |
| Isolated By: |  Sir William Ramsay  Robert H. Whytlaw-Gray William Ramsay and Robert Whytlaw-Gray |
| Named For: | Contraction of Radium emanation |
| CPK color coding: | #428296 |
| External Links: | WikipediaWebElementsLos Alamos National LaboratoryTheodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com |
| Geochemistry of Radon | |
|---|---|
| Goldschmidt classification: | Atmophile |
| Elemental Abundance for Radon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Crust (CRC Handbook) | 4 x 10-19 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Sea Water (CRC Handbook) | 6 x 10-22 | mass per volume fraction, kg/L |
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| Astatine << Radon >> Francium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spotted a mistake/omission? - These pages are a work in progress, so please send all comments/corrections to jolyon@mindat.org. Thank you.
Constants and physical property data from:
Lide, David R. - Ed. (2005) CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - A Ready-Reference Book of Chemical and Physical Data (85th ed.). CRC Press.
National Physical Laboratory (2005) Kaye and Laby Online (discontinued). https://web.archive.org/web/20190506031327/http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/
Kaye, G. W. C.; Laby, T. H. (n.d.) Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants and some Mathematical Functions. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Greenwood, N.N.; Earnshaw, A. (1997) Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann.
Ahrens, Thomas J. - Ed. (1995) Global Earth Physics - A Handbook of Physical Constants - AGU Reference Shelf No. 1. American Geophysical Union.
Railsback, L. Bruce (2003) An earth scientist's periodic table of the elements and their ions. Geology, 31 (9) 737 doi:10.1130/g19542.1
Emsley, John (2001) Nature's Building Blocks - An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford University Press, Oxford.