Xenon Chemical Properties (25 Facts You Should Know)

Xe or Xenon is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in trace amounts in the Earth’s atmosphere. Let us predict the chemical properties of Xenon.

Xenon is a noble gas having a fully completed valence orbital and for this reason, it is very stable and does not participate in other reactions. In spectroscopy, Xenon light has many spectral lines and the wavelength of those lines are more dense and high.

Due to its inert nature, it cannot form molecules but with high electronegative atoms like oxygen and fluorine, it can form many molecules due to the same threshold energy. In this article, we will discuss different physical as well as chemical properties of Xenon like isotope, ionization energy, and boiling point.

1. Xenon symbol

The atomic symbol of Xenon is “Xe” which comes from the English alphabet. As X is used in any variable in the mathematical calculation, “Xe” instead of X is used for the abbreviation of Xenon as an atomic symbol.

2. Xenon group in the periodic table

The group of Xenon in the periodic table is 18 because it is a noble gas. So, it is placed in the 18th group as an element. In the Mendeleev periodic table, it is group 18 but in the modern periodic table, it is placed as the VIIIA group as per the precipitation table.

3. Xenon period in the periodic table

Xenon belongs to period 5 in the periodic table because it has more than 36 electrons in the valence shell. Up to period 4, there will be 36 elements that are well placed, so the remaining 18 electrons get the 5^th period after the transition element.

4. Xenon block in the periodic table

Xenon is a p-block element because the valence electrons are present in the p orbital. Xe also has s, and d orbitals but the outermost electrons are present in the 5p orbital according to the Aufbau principle.

5. Xenon atomic number

The atomic number of Xenon is 54, which means it has 54 protons because the number of protons is always equal to the number of electrons. For this reason, they become neutral due to the neutralization of equal and opposite charges.

6. Xenon atomic Weight

The atomic weight of Xenon is 132 on the ¹²C scale which means the weight of Xenon is the 132/12^th part of the weight of the carbon element. The original atomic weight of Xenon is 131.95. It is because the atomic weight is the average weight of all the isotopes of the element.

7. Xenon Electronegativity according to Pauling

The electronegativity of Xenon is 2.6 according to the Pauling scale, which means it has electronegative nature and can attract electrons toward itself. The group 18^th element has a higher electronegativity than the previous group’s halogen element.

8. Xenon atomic Density

The atomic density of Xenon is 3.06 g/cm³ which can be calculated by dividing the mass of Xenon by its volume. Atomic density means the number of atoms present per unit volume but the atomic number is the number of electrons present in the valence and inner orbital.

• Density is calculated by the formula, atomic density = atomic mass / atomic volume.
• The atomic mass or weight of Xenon is 289 g
• The volume of the Xenon molecule is 22.4 liter at STP as per Avogardo’s calculation
• So, the atomic density of Xenon is, 132/ (22.4*2) = 2.946 g/cm³

9. Xenon melting point

The melting point of Xenon is -111.8⁰C or 161.2K temperature because at room temperature Xenon exists in gaseous state. It needs less energy to melt the crystal into a liquid. By increasing the temperature, the elements can be placed in good arrangement.

10. Xenon boiling point

The boiling point of Xenon is -108.1⁰C or 164.9K because it exists in gaseous form at room temperature. So, converting from solid to liquid need less energy, and also from liquid to gas requires a negative temperature.

11. Xenon Van der Waals radius

The van der Waal’s radius of Xenon is 216 pm because it has 5s which has more spatial distribution and a filled 3d orbital so it has a strong screening effect. For this reason, the nucleus attraction force for the outermost orbital increases, and this decreases the radius.

• Van der Waal’s radius is calculated by the mathematical formula considering the distance between two atoms, where atoms are spherical in shape.
• Van der Waal’s radius is, R_v = d_A-A / 2
• Where R_V stands for Van Waal’s radius of the molecule of spherical shape
• d_A-A is the distance between two adjacent spheres of the atomic molecule or the summation of a radius of two atoms.

12. Xenon ionic radius

The ionic radius of Xenon is 216 pm which is the same as the covalent radius because for Xenon the cation and anion are the same and it is not an ionic molecule. Rather, it forms by the covalent interaction between two Xenon atoms.

13. Xenon isotopes

Elements having the same number of electrons but different mass numbers are called isotopes of the original element. Let us discuss the isotopes of Xenon.

Although Xenon is inert, it has 52 isotopes which are listed below-

• ¹⁰⁸Xe
• ¹⁰⁹Xe
• ¹¹⁰Xe
• ¹¹¹Xe
• ¹¹²Xe
• ¹¹³Xe
• ¹¹⁴Xe
• ¹¹⁵Xe
• ¹¹⁶Xe
• ¹¹⁷Xe
• ¹¹⁸Xe
• ¹¹⁹Xe
• ¹²⁰Xe
• ¹²¹Xe
• ¹²²Xe
• ¹²³Xe
• ^123mXe
• ¹²⁴Xe
• ¹²⁵Xe
• ^125m1Xe
• ^125m2Xe
• ¹²⁶Xe
• ¹²⁷Xe
• ¹²⁸Xe
• ¹²⁹Xe
• ^129mXe
• ¹³⁰Xe
• ¹³¹Xe
• ^131mXe
• ¹³²Xe
• ^132mXe
• ¹³³Xe
• ^133mXe
• ¹³⁴Xe
• ^134m1Xe
• ^134m2Xe
• ¹³⁵Xe
• ^135mXe
• ¹³⁶Xe
• ^136mXe
• ¹³⁷Xe
• ¹³⁸Xe
• ¹³⁹Xe
• ¹⁴⁰Xe
• ¹⁴¹Xe
• ¹⁴²Xe
• ¹⁴³Xe
• ¹⁴⁴Xe
• ¹⁴⁵Xe
• ¹⁴⁶Xe
• ¹⁴⁷Xe

There are only 13 isotopes that are stable of Xenon which is discussed below –

Isotope	Natural Abundance	Half-life	Emitting particles	No. of Neutron
124Xe	0.095%	1.8*1022 y	€€	70
125Xe	Synthetic	16.9 hrs	€	71
126Xe	0.089%	stable	N/A	72
127Xe	Synthetic	36.345 d	€	73
128Xe	1.910%	stable	N/A	74
129Xe	26.401%	stable	N/A	75
130Xe	4.071%	stable	N/A	76
131Xe	21.322%	stable	N/A	77
132Xe	26.909%	stable	N/A	78
133Xe	Synthetic	5.247 d	β	79
134Xe	10.436%	stable	N/A	80
135Xe	Synthetic	9.14 h	β	81
136Xe	8.857%	2.165*1021 y	ββ	82

Among these stable isotopes, ¹²⁵Xe, ¹²⁷Xe, ¹³³Xe, and ¹³⁵Xe are synthetic isotopes, and the rest occurs naturally.

14. Xenon electronic shell

The shell surrounding the nucleus as per principal quantum number and holding the electrons is called an electronic shell. Let us discuss the electronic shell of Xenon.

The electronic shell distribution of Xenon is 2 8 18 18 8 because it has s, p, and d orbitals around the nucleus. Since it has more than 36 electrons and to arrange 54 electrons, it needs 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 5s, and 5p orbitals.

15. Xenon electron configurations

The electronic configuration of Xenon is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 3d¹⁰ 4s² 4p⁶ 4d¹⁰ 5s² 5p⁶ because it has 54 electrons and those electrons should be placed to the nearest orbital of the nucleus s, p, d orbitals and for the 1^st,2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th orbitals.

• Due to exchange energy, electrons enter first in 5s orbital then 4d.
• Where the first number stands for the principal quantum number
• The letter is for orbital and the suffix number is the number of electrons.
• But many elements have more principal quantum numbers depending on the number of electrons.
• Xn has 36 electrons, so the remaining electrons are present after the noble gas configuration.
• So, it is denoted as [Xn]4d¹⁰5s²5p⁶.

16. Xenon energy of first ionization

The first ionization value for Xenon is 1170 KJ/mol because the electron is removed from the fully-filled 5p orbital. So, the removal of the first electron for any noble gas disturb the stability. So it requires more energy and for this reason, the first ionization energy of every noble gas is expected to be high.

17. Xenon energy of second ionization

The 2^nd ionization energy of Xenon is 2046.4 KJ/mol because, in the 2^nd ionization, electrons are removed from the 5p orbital. Upon 2^nd ionization, Xe does not lose its stability but the 2^nd electron is removed from the excited state so it require much energy.

18. Xenon energy of third ionization

The third ionization energy for Xenon is 3099.4 KJ/mol because the third ionization occurs from 5p orbital and gets stabilization due to being half-filled but the value is higher than expected because

• Xe has also a 4d orbital which is subject to poor shielding effect and for this reason also nucleus attraction force on the outer electrons will be increased and the removal of the electron requires a larger amount of energy.
• The 5s and 4s orbital of Xe have a strong shielding effect.

19. Xenon oxidation states

The stable oxidation of Xe is O as it is noble gas so it has a filled valence orbital but it also shows a +2, +4, +6, and even +8 oxidation state depending upon the molecule formation with electronegative atoms.

Actually, xenon is the only noble gas that can react with oxygen and fluoride to form different molecules with different valencies.

20. Xenon CAS number

The CAS number of the Xenon molecule is 7440-63-3, which is given by the chemical abstracts service.

21. Xenon Chem Spider ID

The Chem Spider ID for Xenon is 22427. By using this number, we can evaluate all the chemical data related to Xenon atom.

22. Xenon allotropic forms

Allotropes are elements or molecules with similar chemical properties but different physical properties. Let us discuss the allotropic form of Xenon.

Xenon has no allotropes because it is a noble inert gas that has a filled valence shell. Due to more stability, it does not show catenation property.

23. Xenon chemical classification

Xenon is classified into the following categories:

• Xe is a noble inert element
• Xe is a gaseous element
• Xe is a very stable element

24. Xenon state at room temperature

Xenon exists in a gaseous form at room temperature because it has lower van der Waal’s interaction. In the crystal form, it adopts face-centered cubic so the atoms exist very close to each other. The randomness of the atom is very high at room temperature.

25. Is Xenon paramagnetic?

Paramagnetism is the tendency of magnetization in the direction of the magnetic field. Let us see whether Xenon is paramagnetic or not.

Xenon is not paramagnetic rather it is diamagnetic because all the electrons in the valance orbitals are in paired form in 5p. It has a molar magnetic susceptibility value of -44* 10^-6 cm³/mol.

Conclusion

Xe is a group 18^th element so it is a noble inert gas. It is used for arc flash lamps. It can also be used in laser flush spectroscopy The wavelength of Xe spectral line is very dense and high. Xenon can be used as a nuclear absorber in a nuclear reactor.