Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry argon ions. Making the plasma from argon, instead of other gases, has several advantages. First, argon is abundant (in the atmosphere, as a result of the radioactive decay of potassium) and therefore cheaper than other noble gases. Argon also has a higher first ionization potential than all other elements except He, F, and Ne. Because of this high ionization energy, the reaction (Ar + e → Ar) is more energetically favorable than the reaction (M + e → M). This ensures that the sample remains ionized (as M) so that the mass spectrometer can detect it. Argon can be purchased
Noble gas configuration stability with other configurations. Noble gas configuration Noble gas configuration is the electron configuration of noble gases. The basis of all chemical reactions is the tendency of chemical elements to acquire stability. For some main group elements, chemical bond formation often results in a complete electronic configuration resembling a noble gas. W. Kossel and Gilbert N. Lewis saw that noble gases did not have the tendency of taking part in chemical reactions under ordinary conditions. On the basis of this observation they concluded that atoms of noble gases are stable and on the basis of this conclusion they proposed a