Argon

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Argon

(n.) A substance regarded as an element, contained in the atmosphere and remarkable for its chemical inertness.
(n.) A colorless, odorless gas occurring in the air (of which it constitutes 0.93 per cent by volume), in volcanic gases, etc.; -- so named on account of its inertness by Rayleigh and Ramsay, who prepared and examined it in 1894-95. Symbol, A; at. wt., 39.9. is condensible to a colorless liquid boiling at -186.1Ą C. and to a solid melting at -189.6Ą C. It has a characteristic spectrum. No compounds of it are known, but there is physical evidence that its molecule is monatomic. Weight of one liter at 0Ą C. and 760 mm., 1.7828 g.