THE NOBLE GASES

(GROUP 8 OR 0)
The noble gases comprise
the following six non-
metals :
Helium, neon, argon,
krypton, xenon and radon.
They occupy the eighth
group of the periodic table.
They are the most
unreactive elements
They were originally believed
to be completely inert
chemically.Because of this ,
they were called inert gases.
Later on , some compounds of
xenon and krypton were made
.As a result , their name
changed to noble gases.
Because of their unreactivity,
the noble gases are found
naturally as free atoms.
 Helium has one energy level,

Atomic structure
neon has two energy levels
and argon has three .The
number of energy levels
increases down the group.

of the noble Helium with only two

electrons has one occupied
energy level hence it has a

gases
duplet.
The rest have eight electrons
in their outermost energy level
thus they have an octet.
Under normal
conditions, noble gases
neither lose or gain
electrons .They are
therefore stable and non-
reactive.
N/B- Noble gases were
initially called inert
gases because they were
thought to be unreactive.
 The atomic radii of
the noble gases

Atomic radii of
increases down the
group .This is
because each of
the noble gases these elements has
one energy level
more than the one
above it.
Ionization energy of
the noble gases
The ionization energies of the noble gases are much higher than those of the alkali metals.This explains why the
noble gases hardly lose electrons to form ions.
The ionization energy of the noble gases decreases down the group.
Physical properties of
the noble gases.
The noble gases are all colorless, odourless and tasteless gases found in the earth’s atmosphere
As you move down the group, the melting and boiling points increases.
Helium has the lowest boiling point of all the known elements.r