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Krypton is used in different forms for many applications in the medical industry. Krypton lasers are commonly employed for laser eye surgery. The laser is used to help prevent blood clotting in the eye as surgery is performed.
Krypton was discovered on May 30, 1898 by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris M. Travers, an English chemist, while studying liquefied air. Small amounts of liquid krypton remained behind after the more volatile components of liquid air had boiled away. The earth's atmosphere is about 0.0001% krypton. The high cost of obtaining krypton from the air has limited its practical applications. Krypton is used in some types of photographic flashes used in high speed photography. Some fluorescent light bulbs are filled with a mixture of krypton and argon gases. Krypton gas is also combined with other gases to make luminous signs that glow with a greenish-yellow light. In 1960, the length of the meter was defined in terms of the orange-red spectral line of krypton-86, an isotope of krypton. Once thought to be completely inert, krypton is known to form a few compounds.