How can pure noble gases become solids at low temperature? what interaction do they have?
In: Chemistry
I have considered the question of how noble gases can become solid at low temperatures. I have concluded that it is due to a complex combination of interactions between them and other particles; in particular, hydrogen gas molecules. Hydrogen gas is the most abundant substance in the universe, and it has a high boiling point. It can exist both as a liquid or a solid at low temperatures.
At low temperatures, noble gases can exist as solids due to their interactions with hydrogen. The solidification is a combination of the attractive forces between the noble gases and repulsive forces between the same substances. The noble gases are also attracted to other substances, such as oxygen and carbon. This is because they have a very strong gluon force that causes them to stick together.
Noble gases are also attracted to each other because of a weak force, which causes them to stick together. This is called the van der Waals interaction.
In conclusion, I think it is fair to say that the noble gases can solidify at low temperatures due to a combination of hydrogen and van der Waals forces. That’s about it for now.
Temporary dipoles (also known as “London dispersion forces”).
Proper understanding of London disperson forces requires using quantum mechanics, which is beyond my ability to ELI5, so I’m going with the not quite correct ‘classic’ explanation:
An atom consists of a positively charged center surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. However, the distribution of electrons around an atom isn’t always uniform. When it isn’t uniform then the atom ends up with a ‘positive’ side and a ‘negative’ side (known as a “dipole”). The positive side will tend to attract electrons from neighboring atoms, while the negative side will tend to repel electrons from neighboring atoms, resulting in those neighboring atoms also becoming a little bit unbalanced. This effectively lets the atoms in a solid correlate their dipoles and results in small but non-trivial amount of attractive force between them.
Whether a substance is a solid, liquid, or gas, simply depends on its pressure and temperature. So any substance can be in any of those states if the pressure and temperature are right.
For noble gases, like any other gas, this requires lowering the temperature and/or increasing the pressure.
Also, Helium *can* exist as a solid:
[http://ltl.tkk.fi/research/theory/He4PD.gif](http://ltl.tkk.fi/research/theory/He4PD.gif)
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