Radon Research Paper

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The element Radon was discovered in 1899. Friedrich Ernst Dorn discovered Radon in Halle, Germany when he was experimenting with Radium. In 1908, Robert Gray and William Ramsey isolated the gas. They named the element nitron. Since 1923 the element has been called Radon. It’s name is derived from the element Radium. Radon was first detected as an emission from Radium. Radon’s element symbol is Rn. Radon’s atomic mass is 86 and it’s in the noble gas family. It contains 86 protons, 136 neutrons and 86 electrons. Radon’s electron configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d10 5p6 6s2 5d10 4f14 6p6. Radon is a gas at room temperature and its density is .00973 g/cm3. Radon is the most densest gases at room temperature. Radon begins …show more content…

Radon is highly unreactive with oxygen, acids and bases. The element is soluble in water. Radon is not produced commercially. Radon is a natural occurring radioactive gas, and comes from the natural breakdown of Uranium. It is found in igneous rock and soil. Radon’s decay products are toxic and radioactive. It can be found in almost all homes and is the number one cause of lung-cancer in nonsmokers in the USA. Radon was used to treat cancer by radiotherapy, but now safer treatments are available. Also, radon is used in spas and an earthquake predictor and geothermal prospector. Radon’s crustal abundance is 4 x 10-13 mg/kg and its oceanic abundance is 6 x 10-16 mg/l. If Radon is inhaled it can cause more than lung cancer, such as silicosis, pulmonary fibrosis and can generate genotoxic effects. Radon-222 and Radon-220 are the only to abundantly found in the everyday life of humans. Radon-222 occurs most in the environment. Radon is the only gas that has radioactive isotopes and poses a threat to your health to the environment in it’s normal state. According to “Radon” Radon was the fifth radioactive element to be discovered. In 1530, miner’s begin getting a disease known as “mala metallorum” which was later found that Radon was the

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