OXYGEN-O ESSAY
Uploaded by 121212 on Dec 07, 2015
Oxygen
Oxygen, the 8th element in the periodic table. It is on period #2, group 16 and has an atomic mass of 16. It is classified as a non-metal and it is highly reactive. It is from the Latin words oxys and genes, which together they mean acid forming (which was names incorrectly with this name). Oxygen supports life but it also kills it. Oxygen is the reason we grow old and die, it causes oxidation in almost everything, even our organs. Oxygen is actually created by photosynthesis and is also made when water evaporates it loses the hydrogen it had been made in a compound to make H2O.
` Its discoveries were in the 1770’s, one was by Joseph Priestly in England in 1774 and the other was Carl Wilhelm Scheele, both independently. The name oxygen came from Antoine Lavoisier, Scheele called it fire air and Priestly called it dephlogisticated air. The reason why Scheele called it “fire air” was because he discovered that you need oxygen to have a fire. Joseph Priestly called it dephlogisticated air because he knew it was needed and it was used for many other thing that were not life. Although Antoine a French chemist that was oxygen’s 3rd discoverer was incorrect by giving it that term, but that is how it remains to this day.
It has 8 protons 8 neutrons and 8 electrons, all of which give it the atomic mass number of 16. Its energy level is the second with 6 valence electrons and it is colorless and is also odorless. One of the uses is it is in plastic and it is in the ozone layer. It is also in H2O (water) and it covers most of the earth since the earth is 96% water. 21% of earth’s atmosphere is oxygen and it is a very important resource for all humanity. It is also in rocks and soil, 50% of earth’s crust is soil which is half of the earth’s crust. Oxygen is gas at room temperature and solid at -217 degrees Celsius and/or -361.82 degrees Fahrenheit. Its isotopes are 0-15, 0-16, 0-17, 0-18.
If there is a room full of oxygen and hydrogen, someone lights a match and the entire room will explode. Oxygen dissolves in cool water faster than in warm water. When other elements combine with oxygen it is called oxidation, usually creating a compound. Out of the entire...