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Xenon

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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FormalPara Element Data

  • Atomic Symbol: Xe

  • Atomic Number: 54

  • Atomic Weight: 131.293 AMU

  • Isotopes and Abundances: 124Xe, 126Xe, 128Xe, 129Xe, 130Xe, 131Xe, 132Xe, 134Xe, and 136Xe with the relative abundances of these isotopes in air being 0.095%, 0.089%, 1.910%, 26.4%, 4.017%, 21.23%, 26.91%, 10.44%, and 8.86%, respectively

  • Atm Melting Point: 161.4 K

  • 1 Atm Boiling Point: 165.1 K

  • Common Valences: 0

  • Atomic Radii: 2.16 Å (van der Waals radius)

  • Pauling Electronegativity: 2.6

  • First Ionization Energy: 1170.35 kJ/mol

  • Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 0.17 ppb

  • Silicate Earth Abundance: 30–500 ppq

  • Atmospheric Abundance: 87 ppb

  • Seawater Abundance: 65 ppt

  • Core Abundance: Not known

Properties

Physical Properties

At standard temperature and pressure of 273.15 K and 1 atmosphere, Xe is a gas. In the Earth’s interior, at pressures >8 gigapascal (GPa), Xe that is not hosted within a mineral would be present as a pure solid phase (Jephcoat 1998). Since the Xe abundance in the mantle is very low, whether pure...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Sujoy Mukhopadhyay

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  1. Sujoy Mukhopadhyay
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Correspondence to Sujoy Mukhopadhyay .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    William M. White

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Mukhopadhyay, S. (2018). Xenon. In: White, W.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_202

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