Oxygen

Oxygen

Statistics of Oxygen

Oxygen is a Chemical Element with an 
Atomic Number : 8

Atomic Mass: 15.9994 Atomic Mass Units
Atomic Symbol: O
Melting Point: -218.3°C

Boiling Point: -182.9 °C

Period Number: 2

Valence Electrons: 6
Phase of Oxygen at room temperature: Gas
Group: Nitrogen Group
Group Number: 16

Density: 0.001429g/cm³ 

Isotopes: Oxygen-16(¹⁶O),Oxygen-17, Oxygen-18
Allotropes: Dioxygen, Ozone, Tetraoxygen

% in Universe:1%

% in Sun: 0.9%

% in Meteorites: 40%

% in Earth's Crust: 46%

% in Oceans: 86%

% in Humans: 61%

Oxygen was discovered independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Uppsala, in 1773 or earlier, and Joseph Priestley in Wiltshire, in 1774, but Priestley is often given priority because his work was published first. The name oxygen was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier, whose experiments with oxygen helped to discredit the then-popular phlogiston theory of combustion and corrosion. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς oxys, "acid", literally "sharp", referring to the sour taste of acids and -γενής -genes, "producer", literally "begetter", because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition.

One of the first known experiments on the relationship between combustion and air was conducted by the 2nd century BCE Greek writer on mechanics, Philo of Byzantium. In his work Pneumatica, Philo observed that inverting a vessel over a burning candle and surrounding the vessel's neck with water resulted in some water rising into the neck. Philo incorrectly surmised that parts of the air in the vessel were converted into the classical element fire and thus were able to escape through pores in the glass. Many centuries later Leonardo da Vinci built on Philo's work by observing that a portion of air is consumed during combustion and respiration.

In the late 17th century, Robert Boyle proved that air is necessary for combustion. English chemist John Mayow (1641–1679) refined this work by showing that fire requires only a part of air that he called spiritus nitroaereus or just nitroaereus. In one experiment he found that placing either a mouse or a lit candle in a closed container over water caused the water to rise and replace one-fourteenth of the air's volume before extinguishing the subjects. From this he surmised that nitroaereus is consumed in both respiration and combustion.

Mayow observed that antimony increased in weight when heated, and inferred that the nitroaereus must have combined with it. He also thought that the lungs separate nitroaereus from air and pass it into the blood and that animal heat and muscle movement result from the reaction of nitroaereus with certain substances in the body. Accounts of these and other experiments and ideas were published in 1668 in his work Tractatus duo in the tract "De respiratione".

Importance of Oxygen

We breath oxygen to survive and ozone also protects our body from UV rays (ultra-violet rays) from the sun. Oxygen (O2) is one of the most important elements required to sustain life. Without it, our health begins to suffer and/or we die. Unhealthy or weak cells due to improper metabolism lose their natural immunity and are thus susceptible to viruses and lead the way to all kinds of serious health problems. O2 not only gives us life but destroys also the harmful bacteria in our bodies without affecting the beneficial bacteria that we need. No antibiotic or drug can make that claim. I believe that God’s plan for mankind was for us to lead a physically productive life in a clean environment, following His dietary laws and not require drugs to remain healthy...our bodies would then receive the sustenance it needs.

Bad Effects of Oxygen

There’s a caustic substance common to our environment whose very presence turns iron into brittle rust, dramatically increases the risk of fire and explosion, and sometimes destroys the cells of the very organisms that depend on it for survival. This substance that makes up 21% of our atmosphere is Diatomic oxygen (O2), more widely know as just oxygen.

Experiment

Want to see a cool experiment on Oxygen? Click on the link to see the cool experiment.

Wasn't that awesome! Look at all the cool experiments you can do with Oxygen, an element or substance, in the form of O2 that we breathe everyday!

How Oxygen is used and The History of Oxygen

PVC pipes

The greatest commercial use of oxygen gas is in the steel industry. Large quantities are also used in the manufacture of a wide range of chemicals including nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide. It is also used to make epoxyethane (ethylene oxide), used as antifreeze and to make polyester, and chloroethene, the precursor to PVC.

Epoxyethane

Polyester

Oxygen gas is used for oxy-acetylene welding and cutting of metals. A growing use is in the treatment of sewage and of effluent from industry.

Oxygen first appeared in the Earth’s atmosphere around 2 billion years ago, accumulating from the photosynthesis of blue-green algae. Photosynthesis uses energy from the sun to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen passes into the atmosphere and the hydrogen joins with carbon dioxide to produce biomass.

When living things need energy they take in oxygen for respiration. The oxygen returns to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.

Oxygen gas is fairly soluble in water, which makes aerobic life in rivers, lakes and oceans possible.

Interesting Facts about Oxygen

1. Dry air is 21 percent oxygen, 78 percent nitrogen and 1 percent other gases.

2. Oxygen does not burn – honestly! It does, however, support the combustion of other substances. Think about it — if oxygen itself actually burnt, striking a match would be enough to burn all of the oxygen in our planet’s atmosphere.

3. Oxygen is about two times more soluble in water than nitrogen is. If it had the same solubility as nitrogen, much less oxygen would be present in seas, lakes and rivers, making life much more difficult for living organisms.

4. Almost two-thirds of the weight of living things comes from oxygen, mainly because living things contain a lot of water and 88.9 percent of water’s weight comes from oxygen.

5. Oxygen (O₂) is unstable in our planet’s atmosphere and must be constantly replenished by photosynthesis in green plants. Without life, our atmosphere would contain almost no O₂.

6. If we discover any other planets with atmospheres rich in oxygen, we will know that life is almost certainly present on these planets; significant quantities of O₂ will only exist on planets when it is released by living things.

7. Just five elements make up over 90 percent of the weight in the Earth’s crust. Almost half of the weight of the crust comes from oxygen. (Silicon, aluminum, iron and calcium are the other four main elements in the crust.)

8. The Northern (and Southern) Lights: The green and dark-red colors in the aurora borealis (and australis) are caused by oxygen atoms.

Highly energetic electrons from the solar wind split oxygen molecules high in earth’s atmosphere into excited (high energy) atoms. These atoms lose energy by emitting photons, producing awe-inspiring light shows.

These are usually polar displays, because solar electrons accelerate along our planet’s magnetic field lines until they hit the atmosphere in the polar regions.

9. Oxygen is made in stars which have a mass of five or more Earth suns when they burn helium and carbon or just carbon in nuclear fusion reactions. Oxygen is part of the ‘ash’ formed by these nuclear fires.

10. A common urban myth is that hyperventilation is caused by breathing in too much oxygen. When we hyperventilate, we breathe too quickly, and this can lead to symptoms such as headache, lightheadedness, dizziness, chest pains, tingling, slurred speech, fainting and spasms. Hyperventilation is really a problem because it forces too much carbon dioxide out of our bodies. We need carbon dioxide in our blood to stop it getting too alkaline. When we hyperventilate, we lose carbon dioxide, which disturbs the equilibrium of substances in our blood, causing its pH to increase; this causes the blood vessels leading to our brains to get narrower, slowing the blood flow, leading to the typical symptoms of hyperventilation.