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Where Has All the Xenon Gone?
LucidBeast writes "Xenon, the second heaviest of the noble gasses, is only found in trace amounts in the atmosphere. Atmosphere contains less xenon than other lighter noble gasses. Missing xenon has perplexed scientists and it has been speculated that it is hiding in the Earth's mantle. Now, a group at the University of Bayreuth in Germany thinks it might have found the answer. It turns out that xenon does not dissolve easily into magnesium silicate perovskite, and thus it cannot hide there. Because it had no place to hide, it is now gone forever."
It's in all those funny looking headlights
You're thinking CO2 and methane. I'm quite sure I don't produce very much xenon.
Found it! It was in the couch.
There is probably a massive government Xenon reserve somewhere, like there is for almost everything else; oil, corn, wheat, your private information, and so on...
This will make the Xenonphobes happy.
I know what happened to it. It was overthrown by the Sludge Vohaul virus, presumably in Space Quest XI.
Canada has a Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
It'll be found in a country that by coincidence is in need of liberating.
I'm confused: did it go out into upper atmosphere or space like helium (seems unlikely @~10x weight of nitrogen & oxygen), did alchemists turn it into gold or did we overestimate the amount there initially was? not seeing how the "conservation of mass" loop is being closed here...
TFS makes no sense at all; TFA is not much better. It seems that, rather than asking, "Why is there so little xenon in the atmosphere" and coming up with a purely speculative answer, the researchers might have questioned why anyone expected to find more.
I'm confused: did it go out into upper atmosphere or space like helium (seems unlikely @~10x weight of nitrogen & oxygen), did alchemists turn it into gold or did we overestimate the amount there initially was? not seeing how the "conservation of mass" loop is being closed here...
it's assumed it was here after earth formed, by assumptions that the material which earth was formed from had x amount of it.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
...is xenophobic, what hope does mankind have?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
They used the Xenon to make XBox 360's
Seriously, all new cars come with HIDs now...
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
So, where did it go?
Guys, I'm really stupid when it comes to chemistry and stuff... How would xenon escape into space if it's denser than any other (barring one) gases?
RTFA. It says that it was probably in the early earth's atmosphere, and the earth's atmosphere was probably blown away by some event, and then re-established itself xenon-free from gasses bubbling up from the molten landscape.
They also wonder why Mars has no xenon.
Free Martian Whores!
"Xenon, the second heaviest of the noble gasses, is only found in trace amounts in the atmosphere.
So far so good.
[The] [a]tmosphere contains less xenon than other lighter noble gasses.
Could be read as meaning that the other noble gasses contain more xenon than the atmosphere, but as a sentence it's passable.
...it is hiding in the earths mantle.
It's called [the] Earth, and you forgot the possesive apostrophe.
Now a group at the University of Bayreuth in Germany think that they might have found the answer.
"The answer," given the context, can only seem to mean that they've found out where the xenon is hiding, but...
I[t] turns out that xenon does not dissolve easily into magnesium silicate perovskite, thus it cannot hide there. And because it had no place to hide, it is now gone forever."
Oh, okay, so "the answer" seems to be "we still don't know, but it's not where we thought it was"? Rather than "it is now gone forever" it seems (from reading one of articles, shock horror) that it was never actually there in the first place - perhaps substituting "come from" in place of "hide" would have made more sense.
Yours sincerely,
Captain Pedantic
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I interpreted the poorly written article to mean. The forming rocks could absorb the other noble gases just fine, but not xenon. I infer this would have left an atmosphere (at the time) that was rich in xenon since very little of it was absorbed into the rock. The article speculated that some form of meteorite collision or solar event blew off the atmosphere. Leaving me to infer that the atmosphere we have today is the result of the rock releasing gas into the atmosphere. Since the rock was xenon poor, today's atmosphere is also xenon poor as a result.
Even if it doesn't dissolve in perovsky, it actually dissolves very well in Topatourbiolilepiquorthite !! So that is not a good reason!
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
most slashdotters are net producers of gasses.
You're thinking CO2 and methane. I'm quite sure I don't produce very much xenon.
I have a fission reactor in my garage. So I am a net producer of radioactive Xenon.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Insert reference to (former Teamsters treasurer) Jimmy Hoffa.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
I was confused as hell, but here is what I've gleaned:
1. Most noble gases were dissolved in/embedded in the early Earth's rock.
2. Xenon due to a variety of factors, did not behave in a similar manner, and thus was free floating in the early atmosphere.
3. A 'big event', like the event that caused Earth's moon to form also knocked the original atmosphere into space.
4. Because almost all of the xenon was in the atmosphere at the time of the event, it was literally lost (from the perspective of the Earth) to space and was either acquired by the other planets or sun, or blown by the solar wind out to the edge of the solar system and beyond.
5. Some small amounts of xenon were recaptured by Earth (like how the bits that formed the moon are still 'bound' to Earth) and those small amounts are what we measure in our current atmosphere.
In short:
Xenon exists in the atmosphere, not rocks. Impact event knocks off Earth's atmosphere (and the Xenon), Earth's atmosphere is replaced by outgassing from the previously saturated rock. The rock did not contain Xenon, so we have only trace amounts today.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
Considering their web page hasn't been updated since 1997...
...I'm not surprised they're gone forever.
xenononline.com
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
If you're afraid of where, how, or why the Xenon disappeared.
Changing the world... one research project at a time.
I just have a Tesla Coil I run 24/7 as a security device. so all I generate is Ozone.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas_compound
Yes, see the link: of all the noble gases we've studied, it is the most chemically active, we've created many more compounds with xenon than any other noble gas. It's the most reactive.
Radon is heavier and has more complex electron shells and therefore is probably more reactive, theoretically. But it is also radioactive, so it isn't more chemically active when we take into account the concept the idea of sticking around and staying in the compound.
So xenon is the most chemically active noble gas, period.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Where have all the Cowboy Neals gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the Cowboy Neals gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the Cowboy Neals gone?
Mommas grounded them one by one.
Oh, When will they ever learn?
Oh, When will they ever learn?
"Borno, gone relativistic. See you in a hundred years. Xenon."
the xenon could be trapped in the crust, unlike any other noble gas, CHEMICALLY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon#Compounds
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I'd like to say you can't make this up, but, apparently, you can.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
O Noble Gas, We Hardly Knew Ye! :(
Which coincides nicely with the planetary impact hypothesis for the Moon's origin.
after I read the article title:
I need some Xenon!
I'm holdin' out for some Xenon 'til the mornin' li-ight!
...
Bad 80s movie? You're soaking in it!
For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
You were a good friend for many years....
...But, I still don't Xenon.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
At 169 m/s, the speed of sound in xenon gas is slower than that in air due to the slower average speed of the heavy xenon atoms compared to nitrogen and oxygen molecules. Hence, xenon lowers the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract when inhaled. This produces a characteristic lowered voice timbre, an effect opposite to the high-timbred voice caused by inhalation of helium. Like helium, xenon does not satisfy the body's need for oxygen. Xenon is both a simple asphyxiant and an anesthetic more powerful than nitrous oxide; consequently, many universities no longer allow the voice stunt as a general chemistry demonstration. As xenon is expensive, the gas sulfur hexafluoride, which is similar to xenon in molecular weight (146 versus 131), is generally used in this stunt, and is an asphyxiant without being anesthetic.
Fun times. :)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
I agree with the critics of this model.
"Other scientists arenâ(TM)t so sure. ChrystÃle Sanloup, a geochemist at the University of Edinburgh, has studied other, shallower places in the Earth where xenon might be locked up. She says the new paper canâ(TM)t explain several aspects of xenon geochemistry, including how Mars could also be lacking xenon in its atmosphere when it has very little perovskite in its depths."
"Possessive," but then, Muphry's Law.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
I didn't read the article but this cannot be their conclusion. Because something cannot be found it must be gone forever?
It's been dispersed into the near vacuum of interstellar space.
As far as we're concerned, that's gone forever.
Actually, many tools install HID Xenon bulbs with additional hardware to supply the needed voltage, in their non-projected lenses, thus blinding everybody else.
Personally, I don't consider those Sylvania SilverStar series of halogen bulbs "really nice". Not saying their light output isn't good. It is, but everyone I've known on 3 different car enthusiast message forums has encountered the same complaints with those. They burnt out far too quickly!
On a lot of cars, changing out the bulbs is kind of a pain. The auto makers figured it wasn't a task you were going to do more than once every 4-5 years or so. But the Sylvania bulbs tend to last as little as 6 months in some cases, with them typically dying well before 2 years are up.
Sadly, you're probably right that there aren't really any other aftermarket halogen replacements that perform as well as/better than these and would last much longer. It's just a downside of the technology, IMO -- and the reason you don't see these coming as standard equipment in any of the cars sold today.
You are holding it wrong! Seriously though: people tend to handle the bulbs with a bare hand leaving oil residue on the bulb and thus causing it to fail prematurely. Use a rag or a glove when installing the new bulbs and this won't be an issue!
Get a web developer
In my opinion, Xenon was probably the best of the early wave of reactive/interactive (voice synthesis) pinball machines, and it seems impossible to find any around any more. Damn shame.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
According to this, 16.7EBq of Xenon was released by Fukushima, and plugging that into the forumla wikipedia gives to convert Bequerels to grams says that about 2.4kg of Xe-133 was released. Haven't seen anything that says Xe-136 was released, but I didn't look that hard.
This is a well known thing which holds for all headlight bulbs. I doubt it has anything to do with the lifespan of these bulbs.
yeah, if car enthusiasts boards are complaining, finger oil isn't the cause.
Frankly the whole thing seems silly - on my older Subaru (RIP) I needed to do something about the anemic headlights, and I wound up having to install a harness with a relay which powered heavier gauge cable which then powered special-order bulbs which could use the higher current.
Everything in the stores is spec'ed to run at the same current to avoid burning through the stock wiring. There's not really much of a difference between a $5 bulb and a $20 bulb. Buy the $5 bulb, or upgrade your wiring to handle the $25 bulbs, and then there is a significant difference.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
going with Core i3/i5/i7 for their servers, underestimating the advantage of Xeon (support for ECC memory and hence protection from cosmic rays).
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
Mars Needs Xenon.
And I got a pet rock. Whenever there is a sudden release of radon in the living room, I can blame it on the pet.
Much more likely in my view is that as Xenon is the most reactive gas and is trapped in some kind of mineral or as a hydrate
love is just extroverted narcissism
It's right between the Wenon and the Yenon.
Table-ized A.I.
... as a fission product. With LFTR, it can be collected as it bubbles out of the core.
I've used one of those kits on my car. In my case, it was road salt and hard water stains. Improved my headlights significantly though
A groove(y) synth at that - and not half bad - and at a price that's affordable. So, now we know ;-)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xenon-groove-synthesizer/id385498073?mt=8
No connection, just like it among others.
Used to play a lot of Xenon pinball machine back in '82 (while avoiding EE classes my first year of college)
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=2821
Just loved getting the multi-ball and making the machine 'climax' by winning games. Maybe it was the voice synth, the sexy graphics, or the speaker aimed at my groin, but I really did love that machine... *sniff*
Wherever You Go, There You Are
Had a 99 Miata once with cataract headlights. The restoration kit got both of them shiny like new, but was still very yellow and cloudy. They would break down again after a few months which would require me to do the whole process all over again. Eventually, I replaced both of them with new ones. I managed to grind one of the old headlights to half thickness and buff it out again. Same effect! Throughout the entire plastic's thickness, they has suffered significant UV damage.
IMHO, I can be a waste of time. Once the plastic molecules are cracked by UV radiation, no amount sanding and buffing will restore them back to original condition. You're just extending the useful life of them if only for a few more years. Basically, I prefer glass headlights again over plastic ones.
Life is not for the lazy.
I have always been anal about not touching the bulb... and I have gone through at least 5 silverstar ultra bulbs in 5 years. After my last spare goes, I'll try some other bulb manufacturer.
120 characters ought to be enough for anyone
Nah.... I think it's because Intel is overpricing their xenon processors, that the supply is drying up.... :-|
(*str8face*)