(taken from radium; L. nitens, shining; first called niton) Discovered in 1900 by Dorn. Ramsay and Gray named it niton in1908 and isolated it to determine it's density. It is the heaviest known gas. It has been called radon since 1923. Radon is present in some spring water, and in the basements of some homes due to the presence of radioactive deposits.
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inert gas, alpha emitter, colorless, radioactive, when cooled it phosphoresces in yellow and orange-red, possible compounds formed with fluorine, hazardous if inhaled