Solved cryptogram

Argon is the third gas in our air by volume, ahead of carbon dioxide, and it reacts with nothing.

Chemistry Facts, sourced to Royal Society of Chemistry.

What it means

People are often surprised by this, because argon has no smell, no color and no effect on anything, so there is nothing to notice. It is close to one percent of the atmosphere, which is far more than carbon dioxide. Almost all of it came from the radioactive decay of potassium in rock over the lifetime of the planet, seeping upward and accumulating in the air.

The claim comes from Royal Society of Chemistry, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.

This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.

Solve it yourself

This fact is a cryptogram here: 76 letters over 21 different ones, graded hard.

Go to the puzzle

Nearby in the collection

The facts either side of this one.

About as hard as this one

Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.

Play a cryptogram

Every Chemistry Facts cryptogram · All fact collections