system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How does Argon gas protect old manuscripts from degradation?
gpt
Argon is a noble gas. It is extremely non reactive. The atmosphere can seem non reactive, but oxygen and other gases will react with various materials in a destructive way especially over long periods of time. So we displace the atmosphere with argon which won't react with anything and that protects important documents in long term storage.