How are noble gases extracted from the atmosphere?

Noble gases are extracted from the atmosphere through a process called fractional distillation of air.

The process of extracting noble gases from the atmosphere is quite complex and involves several steps. The first step is to cool the air until it becomes a liquid. This is done by compressing the air and then allowing it to expand rapidly, which causes it to cool. The cooled air is then passed through a heat exchanger, where it is cooled further until it liquefies.

The next step is fractional distillation. This process takes advantage of the fact that different gases have different boiling points. When the liquefied air is slowly heated, the gases with the lowest boiling points boil off first and can be collected. The remaining liquid is then heated further to collect the other gases.

The noble gases, which include helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, have relatively high boiling points compared to other gases in the atmosphere. This means that they are among the last gases to be collected during the fractional distillation process.

Once the noble gases have been collected, they are further purified to remove any remaining impurities. This is typically done using additional distillation processes or other purification methods.

It's important to note that while this process is effective at extracting noble gases from the atmosphere, it is also quite energy-intensive. As a result, noble gases are typically only extracted in large quantities when they are needed for specific industrial applications.