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Name: Tony
Status: student
Age: 17
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999
Question:
I'm doing a project for chem class about Xenon headlights and wass wondering if anyone might know the balanced chemical equation for when xenon gas is lit to produce the light in a headlight?

Replies:
I could be wrong on this, but my understanding of the working of xenon lights is that they're basically plasma emission lights, like neon lights. An electric arc through a low pressure of xenon strips electrons from the xenon atoms, and the electrons emit light when they recombine with the nuclei. Xenon gives a nice white color because of its particular electronic structure, just as neon gives orange, argon green, and krypton purple.

Dr. Barrans


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