Out this week is Simon Mayo’s new book Itch – an exciting story that Alex Rider fans will definitely want to try!
Out now, the book follows Itchingham Lofte – known as Itch- who is an element-hunter! He’s decided to collect all the elements in the periodic table, which has some rather destructive results in his bedroom!
However, when he discovers a brand new element, never seen before, he ends up with unwanted attention and a lot of danger.
Itch is written by Simon Mayo and published by Random House – out now.
So you can become an element hunter too, we’ve put together fact files on some key elements you’ll want to catch!
Today’s is… Xenon
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Here’s what Itch has got to say:
[audio:http://funkidslive.com/podcasts/33/audio/podcast-2012-03-11-59071.mp3|artists=Xenon|titles=Element Fact Files with Fun Kids]This is very rare! Only 0.0000087% of the earth’s atmosphere is xenon.
Xenon can produce a brilliant white flash of light and so is widely used in strobe lights. However, the light can be so strong actually that it is also used to kill bacteria.
Due to its high atomic weight, xenon ions were used as a fuel in an experimental ion engine aboard the space probe Deep Space 1.
Check out all the elements: