Liquid Argon

Argon is produced industrially as a byproduct in the production of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen by the fractional distillation of liquid air in a cryogenic air separation unit; a process that separates liquid nitrogen, which boils at 77.3 K, (-320oF, -196oC), from Argon, which boils at 87.302 K, (-185.848 °C,-302.526 °F), and liquid Oxygen, which boils at 90.2 K, (-297oF, -183oC). The name “Argon” is derived from a Greek word meaning “lazy” or “inactive”, as a reference to the fact that the element undergoes almost no chemical reactions.