Argon Atomic number 18 Nobility Commentary

London—John William Strutt Lord Rayleigh, William Ramsay elements

Argon

• The lazy gas,
• call it “argon” from the Greek,
• doesn’t react with other elements,
• a “noble” gas.
• William Ramsay and the noble Baron Rayleigh
• had determined that a fourth gas lurked in our atmosphere
• because nitrogen produced from chemical compounds
• was lighter than nitrogen from the atmosphere.
• They removed all the oxygen,
• carbon dioxide, hydrogen,
• and nitrogen from a sample of air.
• The residue, less than one percent, was argon.

Atomic number 18

• A relatively cheap, chemically inert gas
• for incandescent and fluorescent lighting
• and preserving the Declaration of Independence.
• A blue ion laser for surgery,
• a blue-green gas-discharge lamp,
• a transparent insulation between windowpanes.

Nobility

• Odorless
• unlike me
• colorless
• compared to my yellow skin
• and monatomic
• whereas I am bound to my sweetheart.
• True nobility is not being aloof
• but recognizing the nobility
• of others.
• Every creature has an inborn nobility
• which I may choose to deny
• in the case of snails and slugs.