Noble Gases and such...

We is it that we get taught things such as, "The noble gases don't react at all", when they do react, just rarely? Krypton and Xenon I know have been found to react with a couple of other elements, and there's probably another 1 or 2 that do as well.

I'm sure I remember questioning a few other things near the end of the course, and what A-Level specifications show are different to what GCSE specifications show. If the noble gases rarely react, why not just say that, instead of that they don't react?

Reply 1

arghhelpme!

because them not reacting is a general term which you will get marked for saying . because they are gcse's, knowing further properties of the noble gases arent required .

Reply 2

F4R4H

erm coz science is just GAY! its like sayin why was pluto a planet b4 but all of a sudden it's not now but because in our syllabus pluto is a planet, in the exam we have to think of it as a planet when its not actually a planet. :biggrin:

Reply 3

equinox3o0o

just say that they dont react due to the fact that they have full outer shells

Reply 4

DarkWhite

Well yeah, by all means, I know that to get the marks in the exam, I'll be saying that they don't react at all because they have full valance electron shells, but I can't understand why we're taught things and we'll likely get told that we've been taught wrong at A-Level. It's not even a case of saying that it's easier to say they don't react, because you could quite easily say that they do react but we don't need to know what they react with and how.

I wouldn't say science is 'gay' as such, because I wouldn't be sitting in front a computer typing right now if there were no scientists out there :biggrin:

. I like science, and can't get my head around this.

I understand the Pluto concept, but at the time the specifications were set, Pluto was a planet in our solar system. That was a scientific theory, proven wrong. But we already know that the noble gases react, as it's been proven many times over.

Reply 5

purple-girl

As someone said above, noble gases don't react normally because they have a full outermost shell of electrons, so they have no need to react with another atom to get a full shell. I think you'll go into more detail at A-Level, but that's next year, so don't worry yet. I do get why you're annoyed and confused though.

And as for Pluto, that'll only be a problem if they ask questions like "how many planets are there in the solar system" or "what's the smallest planet". Which they probably won't now.

Reply 6

DarkWhite

Wouldn't mind if I was confused over science; just confused over exam boards.

GCSE: "Noble gases don't react at all with anything."

A-Level: "Sorry, noble gases do react every now and then."

Completely different.

Ah well, rant over.