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Argon Created 2026-10-13 Updated 2026-10-18
The chemical element with atomic number eighteen. Argon is a colourless noble gas. It can provide a protective atmosphere around hot, reactive materials, for example in welding, where excluding oxygen limits oxidation. Commercial production separates it by distillation of liquid air.[ref]
Argon — Element information, properties and uses. Periodic Table by Royal Society of Chemistry; Fact box, Uses and Natural abundance: atomic number, group, protective atmosphere and liquid-air distillation
Its discovery shows why a small disagreement can matter more than a reassuringly repeatable result. Two preparations can each give consistent measurements while producing different mixtures. The Rayleigh-Ramsay argon density experiment investigated just such a discrepancy. Gas density links the weighing to a mean molar mass; a separate separation process tests which component accounts for it.