Give an account of the discovery of noble gases
Answers
Discovery of noble gases. ... In 1910, using tiny samples of radon, Ramsay proved that it was a sixth noble gas, and he provided further evidence that it was formed by the emission of a helium nucleus from radium.
Sir William Ramsey who was a British Chemist and renowned scientist of the 19th century was the person who discovered the presence of noble gases in the atmosphere that is Neon, Argon, Krypton and Xenon along with helium and radon which lately formed an entirely new family in the periodic table.
Ramsey was found to be more interested in chemistry since his childhood which made him to graduate in Chemical science and to start research work at Glasgow. Most of his researches were lined up behind alkaloids initially until he understood Lord Rayleigh’s finding that showed the atomic weight of nitrogen in the atmosphere varies between the atmosphere and in chemical compounds.
The finding of Lord Rayleigh initiated a spark within Ramsey to search for new gases in the atmosphere. This is how Ramsey found the inert gases and eventually wrote a book on them (The gases of Atmosphere (1896))