| Travers helped
Ramsay
to determine the properties of the newly discovered gases
argon
and
helium
. They also heated minerals and meteorites in the search for further gases, but found none. Then in 1898 they obtained a large quantity of liquid air and subjected it to fractional distillation. Spectral analysis of the least volatile fraction revealed the presence of
krypton
. They examined the
argon
fraction for a constituent of lower boiling point, and discovered
neon
. Finally
xenon
, occurring as an even less volatile companion to
krypton
, was identified spectroscopically. Travers continued his researches in cryogenics and made the first accurate temperature measurements of liquid gases. He also helped to build several experimental liquid air plants in Europe. |