Monatomic

Encyclopedia : M : MO : MON : Monatomic

In physics and chemistry, monatomic is a combination of the words "mono" and "atomic," and means "single atom." It is usually applied to gases: a monatomic gas is one in which atoms are not bound to each other.

Under Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP), all of the noble gases are monatomic. To be a monatomic gas, an element usually has to have zero valence (as for the noble gases); or be a normally diatomic gas under extremely low pressure, as is the case with oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere.

Also known as m-state.

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