Argon: From Glow to Snow at -189°C | Noble Gases #1

Описание: What happens when a “boring” noble gas gets pushed to its limits? In this video, argon goes on a full tour: from glowing discharge tube, to drifting snow, to liquid and then to solid ice. The experiment explores two different ways to freeze argon, showing how subtle changes in conditions can turn the same gas into either a frosty powder or a clear icy solid.
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Along the way, the video dives into argon’s backstory: the meaning of its name, its place in the atmosphere, touching on it's famously inert nature. There is a detour into the decay chain of potassium‑40, explaining how this naturally occurring radioisotope connects to argon found in rocks and the atmosphere.
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The journey then heads out into space, looking at Argonium (ArH⁺) as a tracer of diffuse interstellar gas and its detection in objects like the Crab Nebula, showing how a humble noble gas helps probe extreme astrophysical environments. Back on Earth, there is also some playful science communication: inhaling argon to hear how a denser gas changes the speed of sound in the vocal tract and warps the voice, all while stressing that chemical inertness does not always mean “automatically safe.”
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If you enjoy experiments that mix low‑temperature chemistry, spectroscopy, nuclear decay, and a bit of cosmic context, this is the first episode in an ongoing Noble Gases series—starting with Argon, from glow to snow to ice.​

If you liked the video, please leave a like, drop any questions or ideas for future noble gas episodes in the comments, and subscribe so you do not miss neon, krypton, xenon and beyond. Sharing the video also helps more people discover these deep‑dive experiments.
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Royal Institutions Video:
Tales from the Prep Room: Argon Ice. YouTube.    • Tales from the Prep Room: Argon Ice  ​

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References and further reading:

S., A. (1897). The Gases of the Atmosphere: The History of Their Discovery. Nature, 55, 435–436. https://doi.org/10.1038/055435a0
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“Argon.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon​

Learning to Recognize Element Spectra – Oxygen, Argon, Xenon. Atomic Spectra. https://www.atomic-spectra.net/rcgnz4.htm
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Brown, T. L., et al. Chemistry: The Central Science – 6.03 Line Spectra and the Bohr Model. LibreTexts. https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Ge...
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Electron excitation diagram. Wikipedia media file. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_exc...

“Argonium.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonium
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“Crab Nebula.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula

McDonald Institute. Novel KDK Experiment Readying for Reveal. https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/astroparticle...
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Tales from the Prep Room: Argon Ice. YouTube.    • Tales from the Prep Room: Argon Ice  ​