Strange weighers

The balance is an instrument very often depicted as a symbol and operated by gods and saints and at the end by a monkey. This extraordinary group of weighers is reviewed.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Xenon 5d emission in pure xenon and xenon doped argon

The radiative of Xe 5d ($\text{3}\text{2}$)₁ states in photoexcited Xe and Xe doped Ar is investigated. The Xe 5d fluorescence contains new information about the deactivation of highly excited states of Xe and about the energy transfer from Ar to Xe.     

Plutonium-244 fission xenon and primordial xenon in the Allende meteorite

The carbonaceous chondrite Allende contains (22±1)·10⁻¹² cm³STP/g of²⁴⁴Pu fission xenon and two kinds of primordial xenon: Type I and Type II. The former represents the isotopic composition of a primordial xenon, which resided in the vicinity of a supernova shortly before it exploded, while the latter represents that of the xenon, which resided in the supernova. The isotopic composition of xenon found in the pink inclusion of the Allende meteorite, corrected for the presence of very large excesses of²⁴⁴Pu fission xenon,¹²⁹Xe from the decay of¹²⁹I, and of¹²⁸Xe from the neutron-capture reactions on¹²⁷I, resembles that of Type-I primordial xenon. The isotopic composition of xenon found in the diamond inclusions of the Allende meteorite, on the other hand, represents that of Type-II primordial xenon and it resembles that of a mixture of Type-I primordial xenon whose isotopic composition is severely altered by a combined effect of (a) mass-fractionation, (b) spallation, (c) stellar-temperature neutron-capture reactions, and (d) the presence of a large excess of²⁴⁴Pu fission xenon.     

Plutonium-244 fission xenon and primordial xenon in lunar samples and meteorites

Xenon found in lunar samples is a binary mixture of²⁴⁴Pu fission xenon and a trapped xenon, whose isotopic composition often shows a striking resemblance to that ofTakaoka's¹ primitive xenon. The decay product of¹²⁹I is conspicuously absent in lunar samples and this may be attributed to the facts that (a) the half-life of¹²⁹I is much shorter than that of²⁴⁴Pu, and (b) the separation of xenon from plutonium may take place easily, since the former is a gaseous element, while the latter is a refractory element. The separation of xenon from iodine may not take place easily, however, since the former is a gaseous element, while the latter is a volatile element. The isotopic compositions of the trapped xenon released from ordinary chondrites and achondrites resemble that ofTakaoka's primitive xenon, which has been mass-fractionated in such a manner that the heavier isotopes are systematically enriched relative to the lighter isotopes.     

HXeOBr in a xenon matrix

We report on a new noble-gas molecule HXeOBr prepared in a low-temperature xenon matrix from the HBr and N(2)O precursors by UV photolysis and thermal annealing. This molecule is assigned with the help of deuteration experiments and ab initio calculations including anharmonic methods. The H-Xe stretching frequency of HXeOBr is observed at 1634 cm(-1), which is larger by 56 cm(-1) than the frequency of HXeOH identified previously. The experiments show a higher thermal stability of HXeOBr molecules in a xenon matrix compared to HXeOH.     

Liquid mixtures of xenon with fluorinated species: xenon + sulfur hexafluoride

The vapor-liquid equilibrium of binary mixtures of xenon + SF6 has been measured at nine temperatures from 235.34 to 295.79 K and pressures up to 6.5 MPa. The mixture critical line is found to be continuous between the critical points of the pure components, and hence, the system can be classified as type I phase behavior in the scheme of van Konynenburg and Scott. The excess Gibbs free energies have been calculated, and the experimental results have been interpreted using the statistical associating fluid theory for potentials of variable range (SAFT-VR). Additionally, the SAFT-VR equation has been used to model other systems involving SF6 and alkanes, illustrating the predictability of the approach and further demonstrating the transferability of parameters between binary mixtures involving alkanes and xenon.     

On the behaviour of solutions of xenon in liquid cycloalkanes: Solubility of xenon in cyclopentane

The solubility of xenon in liquid cyclopentane has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Measurements of the solubility of xenon in liquid cyclopentane are reported as a function of temperature from 254.60 K to 313.66 K. The imprecision of the experimental data is less than 0.3%. The thermodynamic functions of solvation of xenon in cyclopentane, such as the standard Gibbs energy, enthalpy, entropy and heat capacity of solvation, have been calculated from the temperature dependence of Henry's law coefficients. The results provide further information about the differences between the xenon + cycloalkanes and the xenon + n-alkane interactions. In particular, interaction enthalpies between xenon and CH₂ groups in n-alkanes and cycloalkanes have been estimated and compared. Using a version of the soft-SAFT approach developed to model cyclic molecules, we were able to reproduce the experimental solubility for xenon in cyclopentane using simple Lorentz-Berthelot rules to describe the unlike interaction.     

Band fluorescence of xenon

The Xe₂ emission band at 168 nm has been observed during irradiation of xenon gas with the 147 nm resonance line. The band is attributed to Xe₂ molecules formed by reaction between ground-state and metastable (2_u) xenon atoms.     

Some reactions of ammonium or hydrazinium fluorides with xenon difluoride or xenon hexafluoride

The reactions between ammonium fluoride, hydrazinium(1+) fluoride, hydrazinium(2+) fluoride and XeF₂ or XeF₆ were studied. It was found that Xe, HF, N₂ were formed in these reactions. Interestingly enough, beside of these gases nitrogen fluorides in different quantities were formed also. The courses and the products of the above reactions are compared with analogous reactions with KrF₂.     

Syntheses and vibrational spectra of xenon(VI) fluorogallate,xenon(VI) fluoroaluminate and xenon(VI) fluoroindate

Liquid xenon difluoride at 140°C does not react with aluminium, gallium, and indium trifluorides, neither does liquid xenon hexafluoride at 60°C. Therefore the reactions between the corresponding hydrazinium fluorometalates (N₂H₆AlF₅, N₂H₆GaF₅ and N₂H₅InF₄) and XeF₂ and XeF₆ were carried out. N₂H₆AlF₅, N₂H₆GaF₅ and N₂H₅InF₄ react with XeF₂ at 60°C (at 25°C in the case of indium) yielding only the corresponding trifluorides, while the reaction with XeF₆ proceeds at room temperature (at - 25°C in the case of indium) yielding XeF₆.2AlF₃, XeF₆.GaF₃ and xenon(VI) fluoroindate(III) contaminated with indium trifluoride. Spectroscopic evidence suggests that these compounds are salts of the XeF⁺₅ cation squashed between polymeric anions of the type (M₂F₇)^x-_x or (MF₄)^x-_x.     

Fission xenon in Wausau,Wisconsin granite

Mass spectrometric analyses of xenon released by stepwise heating of large granite samples from Wausau, Wisconsin reveal (i) a low temperature, xenon-rich fraction which is slightly enriched in the light isotopes in the manner expected from mass fractionation of atmospheric xenon, and (ii) a high temperature fraction which is enriched in the heavy isotopes of xenon in the manner expected from the spontaneous fission of ²³⁸U. These analyses reveal no evidence of the anomalous fission yields which would be produced in spontaneous chain reactions.     

The non-linear dielectric effect in liquid xenon

The non-linear dielectric effect (NLDE), that is the increase in the dielectric constant divided by the square of the applied field, is measured for a number of non-polar molecular liquids and for liquid xenon. The values of the NLDE are compared with results in the literature and with values predicted by theory. The agreement with other experiments is quite good, but with theory is very poor, the only exception being Liquid xenon, where agreement is good. A possible explanation is given. The prediction that the NLDE should increase strongly near the critical point due to the divergence of the isothermal compressibility could not be established by experiment. The conclusion is drawn that this failure is due to the reduction by the theory of second-order effects to first-order thermodynamic and molecular properties.     

Raman spectroscopy in liquid xenon solutions: Trifluorohalomethanes

Raman spectra of good quality were obtained for liquid xenon solutions of CF₃X, where X = Cl, Br or I. Full and reliable vibrational assignments were obtained for all three molecules, including the ν₆ modes, whose positions had hitherto been subject to some doubt. ν₆ for CF₃I, for example, is confirmed at 267 cm⁻¹.     

Electron correlation and relativistic effects in xenon tetrafluoride

Ab initio all-electron fully relativistic Dirac–Fock self-consistent field and Dirac–Fock–Breit calculations are reported for the XeF₄ molecule at various internuclear distances assuming the experimental D_4h geometry with our recently developed relativistic universal Gaussian basis set. The nonrelativistic limit Hartree–Fock calculations were also performed for XeF₄ at various internuclear distances. The calculated relativistic correction to the total energy of molecule at the Dirac–Fock level is ～ ?5856 eV, whereas the magnetic part of the Breit correction to the electron-electron interaction is calculated as ～ 177 eV. The electron correlation effects were included in the nonrelativistic Hartree–Fock calculations using the second-order Møller-Plesset (MP 2) theory, and the calculated correlation energy for XeF₄ is ?71 eV. The basis-set superposition error (BSSE ) was estimated by using the counterpoise method for Xe and F. The inclusion of both the relativistic and electron correlation effects in the calculated total energies of F, Xe, and XeF₄ predicts the Xe—F bond length and dissociation energy of XeF₄ as 1.952 Å and 5.59 eV, respectively, which are in excellent agreement with the experimental values of 1.953 Å and 5.69 eV, respectively, for XeF₄. The contribution of the electron correlation and relativistic effects to the dissociation energy of XeF₄ is 8.11 and 0.05 eV, respectively. The Breit interaction, however, contributes only 0.02 eV to the dissociation energy of XeF₄. Electron correlation is most significant for the prediction of an accurate value of dissociation energy, whereas relativistic effects are very important for the prediction of spin-orbital splitting as well as the energies of the orbitals, especially the inner orbitals of XeF₄. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.