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       #Post#: 31654--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Random Thoughts....
   DIR By: 90sRetroFan
       Date: December 13, 2025, 5:34 pm
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       I don't mind the use of the term "noble" in "noble gas" from a
       purely semantic angle, so long as we remain aware that the
       discoverers of the gases were Western scientists (whom we would
       have preferred to never have existed):
       --- Quote ---
       > Pierre Janssen and Joseph Norman Lockyer had discovered a new
       element on 18 August 1868 while looking at the chromosphere of
       the Sun, and named it helium
       > ...
       > A century later, in 1895, Lord Rayleigh discovered that
       samples of nitrogen from the air were of a different density
       than nitrogen resulting from chemical reactions. Along with
       Scottish scientist William Ramsay at University College, London,
       Lord Rayleigh theorized that the nitrogen extracted from air was
       mixed with another gas, leading to an experiment that
       successfully isolated a new element, argon, from the Greek word
       ἀργός (argós, "idle" or "lazy").[10]
       With this discovery, they realized an entire class of gases was
       missing from the periodic table. During his search for argon,
       Ramsay also managed to isolate helium for the first time while
       heating cleveite, a mineral. In 1902, having accepted the
       evidence for the elements helium and argon, Dmitri Mendeleev
       included these noble gases as group 0 in his arrangement of the
       elements, which would later become the periodic table.[11]
       >
       > Ramsay continued his search for these gases using the method
       of fractional distillation to separate liquid air into several
       components. In 1898, he discovered the elements krypton, neon,
       and xenon, and named them after the Greek words
       κρυπτός (kryptós, "hidden"),
       νέος (néos, "new"), and
       ξένος (ksénos, "stranger"),
       respectively. Radon was first identified in 1898 by Friedrich
       Ernst Dorn,[12] and was named radium emanation, but was not
       considered a noble gas until 1904 when its characteristics were
       found to be similar to those of other noble gases.[13]
       --- End Quote ---
       Upon noting the gases' low chemical reactivity under ordinary
       conditions, Western scientists responded in typically Faustian
       fashion by finding ways to make them react:
       --- Quote ---
       > In 1962, Neil Bartlett discovered the first chemical compound
       of a noble gas, xenon hexafluoroplatinate.[17]
       --- End Quote ---
  HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_hexafluoroplatinate
       --- Quote ---
       > Xenon hexafluoroplatinate is the product of the reaction of
       platinum hexafluoride with xenon, in an experiment that proved
       the chemical reactivity of the noble gases.
       > ...
       > "Xenon hexafluoroplatinate" is prepared from xenon and
       platinum hexafluoride (PtF6) as gaseous solutions in SF6. The
       reactants are combined at 77 K and slowly warmed to allow for a
       controlled reaction.
       --- End Quote ---
       This is why we call them:
  HTML https://trueleft.createaforum.com/true-left-vs-right/homo-hubris/
       The horror does not stop here. Back to your link:
       --- Quote ---
       > Noble gases have very low boiling and melting points, which
       makes them useful as cryogenic refrigerants.[82] In particular,
       liquid helium, which boils at 4.2 K (−268.95 °C;
       −452.11 °F), is used for superconducting magnets, such as
       those needed in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear
       magnetic resonance.[83] Liquid neon, although it does not reach
       temperatures as low as liquid helium, also finds use in
       cryogenics because it has over 40 times more refrigerating
       capacity than liquid helium and over three times more than
       liquid hydrogen.[78]
       >
       > Helium is used as a component of breathing gases to replace
       nitrogen, due its low solubility in fluids, especially in
       lipids. Gases are absorbed by the blood and body tissues when
       under pressure like in scuba diving, which causes an anesthetic
       effect known as nitrogen narcosis.[84] Due to its reduced
       solubility, little helium is taken into cell membranes, and when
       helium is used to replace part of the breathing mixtures, such
       as in trimix or heliox, a decrease in the narcotic effect of the
       gas at depth is obtained.[85] Helium's reduced solubility offers
       further advantages for the condition known as decompression
       sickness, or the bends.[13][86] The reduced amount of dissolved
       gas in the body means that fewer gas bubbles form during the
       decrease in pressure of the ascent. Another noble gas, argon, is
       considered the best option for use as a drysuit inflation gas
       for scuba diving.[87] Helium is also used as filling gas in
       nuclear fuel rods for nuclear reactors.[88]
       --- End Quote ---
       The world we should never have left is the one in which only the
       pre-Renaissance elements were known:
  HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_chemical_element_discoveries
  HTML https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Cumulative_diagram_of_element_discoveries.png
       --- Quote ---
       > Gold 
       > Carbon 
gopher.createaforum.com:70 /forums/trueleft/p/66/13:108: port field too long