Xenon

Xenon (zee-non) is a very rare Noble Gas, and is most well known for the fact that it discharges very bright clean white light. Because of this it is most commonly used in strobe lights or flash bulbs.

Xenon's atomic name is Xe (Which is a reason I really like it, it has one of the most awesome names) atomic number is 54, and most common isotope is Xe-132 with 78 neutrons, however every isotope from Xe-124 to Xe-136 (With the exclusion of isotope 125, 127, 133, 135 which are synthetic and short-lived) is found naturally.

Being a noble gas there are almost no naturally occurring compounds, and is most commonly obtained from air, which contains a minute percentage of it. It is very unusual, an interesting fact is that on average there's less Xenon in air than there is Gold in sea water.

It is quite heavy for a gas, a balloon filled with Xenon will fall to the ground faster than a solid low-density styrofoam ball.

As mentioned above, it's most common uses are in strobe lamps, which are gas-discharge lights similar to Neon signs. Similar to Neon displaying a red color, Xenon displays a bright pure white, so is used in camera flashes or for high-power projector or spot light bulbs. All of my samples are in the form of lamps mentioned above.

These are my samples, all are (loosely speaking) light bulbs.

Top right sample: This is the Xenon flash bulb from your typical camera flash, easily found in disposable cameras for about $6. Normally I wouldn't take it off of the circuit board, because the circuit board can be used to light it up, but in this case it was from and older camera flash that no longer worked.

Bottom sample: This is a much larger flash bulb, probably used in a strobe light. I was very lucky to pick up 3 of these basically for free at a special flea market in Boston. They are basically exactly the same as the smaller one, just a different shape. You might also notice the third wire in the middle, this is a "trigger" wire, because it is very hard to get and arc to start in the Xenon, a high voltage (but low amps) charge is applied to the middle and one of the edges, this "starts" the arc, which than continues from a larger more powerful capacitor(This all happens in a fraction of a second) They make some bulbs even larger than these for airport lights and such.

Top left sample: This is a very rare lamp, given to me by my dad. It is in fact a projector bulb filled with Xenon, and it is unusual because it does not "flash", it actually stays lit up, which is difficult because the Xenon tends to get very hot quite fast. I am very lucky to have one of these, most are used by movie theaters and are returned to the company that makes them for "repairs". Quite difficult to get your hands on, and expensive to get new. This one may not work, I have no power supply to test it.

This concludes my post on Xenon, my favorite noble gas. Thanks for reading!

~Ben