MYP Chemistry Topic Noble Gases Revision Notes

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MYP Chemistry Topic Noble Gases Revision Notes | RevisionDojo

Noble Gases

The noble gases are the elements in Group 18 of the periodic table (sometimes called Group 0 in older notation).
They include helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe) and radon (Rn).
They are often described as “inert” or unreactive because they rarely form compounds.
To understand why, we need to look at their electron configurations.

Why Noble Gases Are Unreactive?

Noble gases have full outer (valence) electron shells.
A full valence shell is a very stable arrangement of electrons.
Because their outer shells are already full, noble gases do not need to gain, lose or share electrons.
As a result, they very rarely react with other elements.

Tip

A full valence shell is the key to stability in atomic structure.
For most atoms, this means 8 electrons in the outer shell (the “octet rule”).
For helium, a full shell means 2 electrons (the “duet rule”) because it only has the first shell.

Element	Electron Configuration	Stability
Helium	1s²	Full 1st shell
Neon	1s² 2s² 2p⁶	Full 2nd shell
Argon	1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶	Full 3rd shell

These configurations all show completely filled outer shells, which explains why these atoms are so unreactive under normal conditions.

Example

Helium is the simplest noble gas:

Electron configuration: 1s²
It has only one shell, and that shell is fully occupied with 2 electrons.
This full first shell makes helium very stable and chemically unreactive.

Note

We often say noble gases are inert, but strictly they are very unreactive, not completely impossible to react.
Under extreme conditions, some noble gases (especially xenon and krypton) do form compounds, such as xenon fluorides.
For MYP level, however, it is enough to remember that noble gases are chemically very stable and rarely form compounds.

Properties of Noble Gases

The unique electron configurations of noble gases lead to several important properties:

Very low reactivity:
1. As discussed earlier, noble gases have full valence shells, which makes them very stable.
2. They do not need to gain, lose or share electrons, so they rarely form compounds.
Monatomic and non-polar:

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MYP Chemistry Noble Gases Notes

Noble Gases

Why Noble Gases Are Unreactive?

Properties of Noble Gases

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Noble Gases

Why Noble Gases Are Unreactive?

Properties of Noble Gases

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Periodic table5 subtopics

Matter5 subtopics

Types of chemical reaction18 subtopics

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)4 subtopics

Pure and impure substances2 subtopics

The atmosphere2 subtopics

Bonding4 subtopics

MYP Chemistry Noble Gases Notes

Periodic table5 subtopics

Matter5 subtopics

Types of chemical reaction18 subtopics

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)4 subtopics

Pure and impure substances2 subtopics

The atmosphere2 subtopics

Bonding4 subtopics

Noble Gases

Why Noble Gases Are Unreactive?

Properties of Noble Gases

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Noble Gases

Why Noble Gases Are Unreactive?

Properties of Noble Gases

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