What is oxygen? Live animals can live for some time without food and water, but without oxygen, it is difficult to survive for a few minutes. Humans get energy from food with the help of respiration and oxygen plays a very important role in this process.
The upper layer of the Earth has
45% oxygen and without oxygen, the compound cannot maintain its hardness. If
oxygen disappears from the Earth even for 5 seconds, it is difficult to imagine
what will happen here.
What is Oxygen |
In this article, we will learn about what is oxygen as well as its molecular formula and properties. So first of all, let's know what is oxygen?
What is oxygen?
Oxygen is a chemical element
with its symbol (O) and atomic number 8. It is a member of the Halogen group
in the periodic table. Besides being highly reactive nonmetal, it is also an
oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with other compounds with most
elements.
It is the third most abundant
element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium on a mass basis. At standard
temperature and pressure, the element's two atoms form Di-oxygen with O2
to form a colorless and odorless diatomic gas. The diatomic oxygen gas is 20.95%
of the Earth's atmosphere. It makes up about half of the Earth's crust in the
form of oxides.
Dioxygen provides the energy
released in combustion and aerobic cellular respiration, and many major classes
of organic molecules in living organisms contain oxygen atoms, such as
proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and fats.
Most of the mass of organisms
living as a component of water is oxygen, which is the major component of life.
Oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere is continuously replenished by photosynthesis,
which uses the energy of sunlight to produce oxygen from water and carbon
dioxide.
Oxygen is very chemically
reactive in order to remain a free element in the air without being constantly
assigned by the photosynthetic action of living organisms. Oxygen, another form
of ozone (O3) (allotrope), strongly absorbs ultraviolet UVB radiation and the
high-altitude ozone layer helps protect the biofire from ultraviolet radiation.
However, ozone present on the surface is a byproduct of smog and thus a
pollutant.
What is the atomic mass of oxygen?
The atomic mass of oxygen is 15.999
AMU. The complete form of AMU is the atomic mass unit.
History
Oxygen was isolated by Michael
Sendivogius before 1604, but it is generally believed that the element was
discovered independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in the laboratory in 1773 or
earlier, and in 1774 by Joseph Priestley in Wiltshire.
Priority is often given to
Priestley since his work was first published. However, Priestley called oxygen
" dephlogisticated air", and did not
recognize it as a chemical element. The name oxygen was coined in 1777
by Antoine Lavoisier, who first recognized oxygen as a chemical element and
correctly portrayed the role it played in combustion.
Common uses of oxygen include
steel, plastic and textile production, brazing, welding and harvesting of
steels and other metals, rocket propellant, oxygen therapy, and life support
systems in aircraft, submarines, spaceflight, and diving.
Physical properties of oxygen
Oxygen dissolves more easily in
water than nitrogen and in freshwater more easily than in seawater. About 1
molecule is dissolved for every 2 molecules of N2
(1: 2) compared to an atmospheric ratio of about 1: 4 in
water in equilibrium with air.
The solubility of oxygen in water
is temperature dependent, and dissolves more than 20 ° C
at about 0 ° C twice. At 25 ° C of air and 1
standard atmosphere (101.3 kPa), freshwater contains about 6.04
mL (mL) of oxygen per liter and seawater contains about 4.95 mL
per liter.
At 5 ° C
the solubility increases by 9.0 mL (more than 50% at 25
° C) per liter of water and 7.2 mL (45%
more) per liter for seawater.
Chemical properties of oxygen
At standard temperature and
pressure (STP), the element's two atoms bind with the formula O2
to form dioxins, a colorless, odorless, tasteless diatomic gas. Oxygen is a
member of the halogen group on the periodic table and is a highly reactive
nonmetal element. As such, it easily forms compounds (especially, oxides) with
almost all other elements.
Oxygen is a strong oxidizing
agent and has the second-highest electronegativity of all reactive elements,
second only to fluorine. By mass, oxygen is the third most abundant element in
the universe after hydrogen and helium and is the most abundant element in the
Earth's crust by mass, which is about half of the mass of the crust.
Free oxygen is chemically
reactive without the photosynthetic action of living beings appearing on Earth,
who use the energy of sunlight to produce elemental oxygen from water.
Elemental O2 began to accumulate in the atmosphere
after the evolutionary form of photosynthetic organisms about 2.5 billion
years ago. Diatomic oxygen gas is currently 20.8 percent of the volume of
air.
How to make oxygen in the laboratory
A) Using heat
Oxygen gas can be made in the
laboratory by heating potassium permanganate (KMnO4) or potassium chlorate
(KClO3) dust. For this, potassium permanganate or potassium chlorate
dust is placed in a rigid test tube and heated to about 360-370
C.
In this experiment, when manganese
dioxide (MnO2) is used as a catalyst, oxygen gas is released by
heating it to about 240-2500 C.
MnO2
2KClO3 (s) → 2KCl
(s) + 3O2 (g)
B) Without the use of heat
Oxygen gas in the laboratory can
also, be obtained from hydrogen peroxide without the use of heat.
In this experiment, manganese
dioxide is placed in a conical flask and hydrogen peroxide is slowly poured
over it with the help of a funnel.
The oxygen produced in this
process is stored in the gas tank by displacing water with the help of a
delivery tube. Manganese dioxide (MnO2) is worked as a catalyst in
this process.
Chemical reaction:
MnO2
2H2O2 (aq) → 2H2O
(l) + O2 (g)
Use of oxygen gas
Oxygen is used in the respiratory
process. During respiration, oxygen enters the body of the animal and gives
energy to the animal by reacting with the carbohydrates in the food. This is
the power by which living beings survive.
- It is used in the respiratory process. During respiration, oxygen enters the body of the animal and gives energy to the animal by reacting with the carbohydrates in the food. This is the power by which living beings survive.
- It is used to produce sulfuric acid, chlorine, etc.
- Oxygen gas is used in welding because it reacts with hydrogen to produce high temperatures.
- Liquid oxygen is used as fuel in missiles and rockets.
- O2 is filled into a cylinder and used for respiration.
Conclusion: Oxygen is the
vital air. Without it, living beings cannot survive even a few minutes.
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