- Argon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third most abundant gas in Earth’s atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abundant as water vapor (which averages about 4000 ppmv, but varies greatly), 23 times as abundant as carbon dioxide (400 ppmv), and more than 500 times as abundant as neon (18 ppmv). Argon is the most abundant noble gas in Earth’s crust, comprising 0.00015% of the crust.
- Calvin Coolidge (allthetropes.org)
Sworn in by his father, a Justice of the Peace, late at night, on the Coolidge family bible, after hearing of Harding’s death, John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (1872 – 1933) may have represented the real return to normalcy; one of his slogans was “Keep Cool With Coolidge.” He was popular in his day, but due to his lack of charisma he’s not remembered much now. Most people remember Prohibition and the rest of The Roaring Twenties instead. If they do remember him, it is for his legendarily taciturn temperament, which earned him the nickname “Silent Cal”. Like most old-fashioned New Englanders, he never used twenty words when one would do the trick, and never used ten words when a simple nod would suffice. This also translated to his philosophy of governance, which was to do as little as necessary, on the grounds that 90% of impending problems would solve themselves before they ever became serious (a philosophy that made him, reportedly, the favorite modern President of Ronald Reagan). Partially as a result of this hands-off philosophy, he has been described as being, historically, more relevant as a source of amusing anecdotes than as a president.