-
Asked by anon-382720 to Alexander dB, Andrew M, Bruno Silvester L, David B, Kirsty R, Martin M, Michael S, Sophie S, Tina-Jaine H on 2 Feb 2024.
-
Alexander De Bruin answered on 2 Feb 2024:
Oxygen atoms are the building blocks that make up oxygen gas (that we breathe) and water (when combined with hydrogen). Oxygen is the eighth element on the periodic table and has been known about for a long time!
-
-
Andrew McDowall answered on 2 Feb 2024:
An oxygen atom is the basic unit of the element oxygen. It consists of a center containing 8 protons (each element has a different number of protons) and, normally, 8 neutrons. It can have 7, 9 or even 10 neutrons, but must always have 8 protons to be oxygen. There are also 8 electrons in a cloud that surrounds the center, arranged in 2 “shells” of 2 and 6 electrons. It’s the way the electrons are organised that gives oxygen its chemistry.
Oxygen atoms are formed in the hearts of larger stars by joining together atoms of lighter elements – first hydrogen to form helium then helium to form berylium, then carbon, then oxygen.
Oxygen is reactive, the atoms are rarely found alone but form stable compounds with, well, just about everything, including itself. The oxygen in the air is mostly pairs of oxygen atoms, with maybe a few triplets. -
Martin McCoustra answered on 2 Feb 2024:
I can’t add to what has been said already… But did you know that liquid oxygen is a blue liquid! Very cool!
-
Tina-Jaine Haigh answered on 2 Feb 2024:
Oxygen is a gas which is in air, and it’s what we need to breathe. An oxygen atom is 1 single atom of oxygen. That’s the smallest thing you could break it down into and it would still be oxygen. Oxygen usually forms a molecule made of 2 oxygen atoms bonded together, and it doesn’t usually exist as a single atom. It can form lots of different molecules too, when it is combined with other elements.
-
Bruno Silvester Lopes answered on 5 Feb 2024:
Excellent answer by Andrew and insightful comment by Martin!
-
Sophie Spinks answered on 6 Feb 2024:
Oxygen is an important element that is needed by animals and plants to survive. It makes up about 20% of the earths atmosphere and is one of the atoms that makes up water. Oxygen atoms are used by animals and plants in the respiration process (breathing). It can also be used to help people with breathing difficulties or to help scuba divers breathe underwater!
Oxygen atoms are an essential part of proteins and DNA. It has 8 electrons and 8 protons, is 8th in the periodic table and was discovered in 1772!
-
Michael Schubert answered on 7 Feb 2024:
Everyone has already given great answers! I’ll just add another fact: did you know that oxygen only makes up about 1% of the gas in the universe? (Overall, it’s about 73% hydrogen, 25% helium, 1% oxygen, and 1% everything else put together!)
-
David Bremner answered on 8 Feb 2024:
In my work i am most familiar with 18-Oxygen which as Andrew says has 10 neutrons and is used in conjunction with deuterated H atoms to estimate total body water for body composition analysis.
We prepare a solution of doubly labelled water where the hydrogen atoms are both deuterium (the nucleus has 1 proton and 1 neutron compared to the normal hydrogen which only has 1 proton and no neutrons in the nucleus) and the oxygen is the 18-oxygen (10 neutrons in nucleus instead of normal 8). It is given to participants and samples collected which which are then analysed using a mass spectrometer.
-
Kirsty Ross answered on 8 Feb 2024:
I’ll add in another cool oxygen fact. Free oxygen has only been around on planet earth for about 2.5 billion years, when plants who could photosynthesis evolved. That is only about 50% of the earth’s lifetime.
Comments