metargonn.
/mᵻˈtɑːɡɒn/, U.S. /məˈtɑrɡ(ə)n/ Chemistry (disused).
A supposed gaseous element with the same density as argon but with different spectral and behavioural properties (later attributed to contamination of argon with a carbon compound).
ΚΠ
1898 W. Ramsay & M. W. Travers in Proc. Royal Soc. 63 440 Inasmuch as the gas differs very markedly from argon in its spectrum, and in its behaviour at low temperatures, it must be regarded as a distinct elementary substance, and we therefore propose for it the name ‘metargon’.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 17 June 7/2 Professor Ramsay, F.R.S., in continuation of his recent research on a new gas in atmospheric air, has this week gone still further... Argon, it now seems, has companion gases, their names, using the professor's nomenclature, being ‘neon’ (new) and ‘metargon’.
1898 W. Ramsay & M. W. Travers in Rep. Brit. Assoc. Bristol 830 The last fractions of liquefied argon show the presence of three new gases. These are krypton..metargon..and a still heavier gas,..which we propose to name ‘xenon’.
1901 W. Ramsay & M. W. Travers in Proc. Royal Soc. 67 330 We have no doubt that the so-called metargon, the spectrum of which is visible only at high pressure, and only when impure phosphorus has been employed to remove oxygen, must be attributed to some carbon compound.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1898