Krypton vs. Argon

History of Krypton

Krypton gas was first discovered by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist and Morris Travers, an English chemist in the year 1898. They discovered this gas in the residue left after evaporating all components of liquid air. You may think of Superman when you hear the word “Krypton” however you will find Krypton has many other uses and purposes than taking the power from the most powerful man in the universe.

Krypton gas is represented by the symbol Kr, having the atomic number 36 and atomic weight 83.80. It has a melting point of -157.2°C and a boiling point of -153.4°C. In the periodic table of chemical elements, Krypton is placed in period 4 and one of the members of Group 18 elements. It can be isolated by fractional distillation of air. Being a member of the noble gases family, the typical properties of krypton gas are: colorless, odorless and tasteless. It occurs in trace amounts, approximately 1 ppm, in the atmosphere.

Naturally occurring krypton has six stable isotopes and seventeen other unstable isotopes have now been discovered. Physical properties of Krypton gas include emission of sharp spectral lines. The most prominent and strongest is green and yellow. Solidified crystal has cubical crystalline structure, white in color.

History of Argon

In 1785, Henry Cavendish suspected the presence of argon, but could never discover it. This discovery occurred about a century later in 1894, when the two Scottish scientists performed an experiment, where they removed all the oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water from a sample of air.

The reason for their hunch that another gas was present in the atmosphere stemmed from the conclusion that the pure nitrogen produced from chemical reactions was lighter than the nitrogen obtained from the atmosphere. This implied a mixture of nitrogen along with some other mysterious gas. The Argon element was the first out of all the noble gases to be discovered, and until 1957, the symbol of Argon element was simply A. Argon has the atomic number 18 and atomic weight 39.948. You can also find Argon, currently represented by the symbol Ar in the periodic table of chemical elements.

Krypton vs. Argon

A huge improvement that can be made to the thermal performance of insulating glazing units, double pane and triple pane windows is to reduce the conductance of the air space between the layers. Originally, the space was filled with air or flushed with dry nitrogen just prior to sealing. In a sealed glass insulating unit, air currents between the two panes of glazing carry heat to the top of the unit and settle into cold pools at the bottom. Filling the space with a less conductive, more viscous, or slow-moving gas minimizes the convection currents within the space, conduction through the gas is reduced, and the overall transfer of heat between the inside and outside is reduced.

Home Windows Installed, Indianapolis IN has introduced the use of argon and krypton inch (11-13 mm). The optimum gap width for krypton is 3/8" (9mm) or more. gas fills, with measurable improvement in thermal production. Argon is cost-effective, nontoxic, nonreactive, clear, and odorless. The optimal spacing for an argon-filled unit is the same as for air, about 1/2 inch (11-13 mm). Krypton is nontoxic, nonreactive, clear, and odorless and has better thermal performance, and out performs argon gas in studies by over 50%. Krypton is particularly powerful when using the gas between double pane or triple pane windows where the glazing may be less than a 1/2 inch.

Krypton gas windows and argon gas windows are the two most common types of insulated windows. Both are inert gases that sit between the 2 panes of glass. Both of them gives better insulation than just using air in double-paned windows.

Argon

Argon is a cheaper gas to use, which makes it much more attractive to manufacturers. It helps to prevent heat escaping through the panes of glass, which keeps the house warmer. You’ll find that most double pane windows will have the area between the panes filled with argon, as it works well with a gap of around 1/2 inch between the panes.

Krypton

Although most double-pane windows use argon between the glass panes, it’s not as good an insulator as krypton. There’s another reason argon is average, and that’s because krypton is more effective where there’s a smaller gap between the panes which applies to most windows. This is why krypton gas is found often in triple paned windows. Krypton gas filled windows function most effectively when the gap between panes are around 3/8 inch or more. The problem is that krypton is much more expensive than argon, which greatly increases the cost of the windows.

The great news is we can offer Krypton filled windows to our customers at the same price our competitors offer their Argon filled windows! Just remember it all comes down to the ratings and performance the windows produce. We will also educate you and present the same price as our competitors with Krypton instead of Argon which will provide you with better energy efficiency.