The Noble Gases Were, Until Relatively Recently, Thought to Be

Multiple Choice

The noble gases were, until relatively recently, thought to be entirely unreactive. Experiments in the early 1960s showed that Xe could, in fact, form compounds with fluorine. The formation of compounds consisting of Xe is made possible by _.

A) the stability of xenon atoms
B) the availability of xenon atoms
C) xenon's relatively low ionization energy
D) xenon's noble gas electron configuration
E) xenon's relatively low electron affinity