Noble gas After the risks caused by the flammability of hydrogen became apparent, it was replaced with helium in blimps and balloons. "Noble gas" is translated from the German noun , first used in 1898 by Hugo Erdmann to indicate their extremely low level of reactivity. The name makes an analogy to the term "noble metals", which also have low reactivity. The noble gases have also been referred to as "inert gases", but this label is deprecated as many noble gas compounds are now known. "Rare gases" is another term that was used, but this is also inaccurate because argon forms a
Noble gas compound exist at very low temperatures or extreme pressures. The stable cation HeH was reported in 1925. Prior to 1962, the only isolated compounds of noble gases were clathrates (including clathrate hydrates); other compounds such as coordination compounds were observed only by spectroscopic means. Clathrates (also known as cage compounds) are compounds of noble gases in which they are trapped within cavities of crystal lattices of certain organic and inorganic substances. The essential condition for their formation is that the guest (noble gas) atoms should be of appropriate size to fit in the cavities of the host crystal lattice; for instance,