Krypton -- Kr

Students who experience chemistry for the first time often jump for joy upon "discovering" the element krypton -- however, they seem disappointed when they find that it's not a glowing radioactive material that forms the mineral kryptonite that kills Superman. Sorry, but krypton is a noble gas, meaning that it's inert. With an electron configuration of 1s²2s²p⁶3s²p⁶d¹⁰4s²p⁶. (Any sane person would simplify that to [Ar]3d¹⁰4s²p⁶.) It's element #36... it has thirty-six electrons, count 'em! Anyway, it's a colorless, odorless, heavy gas. (A balloon filled with Kr sinks to the ground. Sorry.) It's really not all that fun. It doesn't do anything, really...

June 15, 1999

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