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 |
| Periodic Table | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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:
David R. Lide (ed.), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 85th Edition. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida (2005).
Kaye and Laby Tables of Physical & Chemical Constants (2005). Section 3.1.3, Abundances of the elements
A. Earnshaw, N. Greenwood, Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, (1997)
Thomas J. Ahrens (ed.), Global Earth Physics : A Handbook of Physical Constants, American Geophysical Union (1995)
L.B. Railsback, An Earth Scientist's Periodic Table of the Elements and Their Ions : Geology 31:9 p737-740 (2003)
Emsley, J. Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. New York: Oxford University Press (2001)