ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD
Oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is an element with the chemical symbol O and atomic number 8.
Oxygen is essential to human life, it is found in the air we breathe and the water we drink (H20).
Oxygen makes up around 21% of the air you breathe. It is also the most common element in the Earth’s crust (around 47%) and the third most common element in the Universe.
The sun’s mass is made up of around 1% oxygen.
Oxygen therapy is used as a common medical treatment. You may have seen patients on TV or in real life using an oxygen mask or nasal cannula (a plastic tube that fits behind the ears and delivers oxygen through the nostrils).
Oxygen has a number of other practical uses such as smelting metal from ore, water treatment, as an oxidizer for rocket fuel and a number of other industrial, chemical and scientific applications.
Concentrated oxygen promotes fast combustion. While a spark or heat is still needed to start a fire, having concentrated oxygen near various fuels can be very dangerous.
What does Oxygen look like?
Properties: Oxygen gas is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. The liquid and solid forms are a pale blue color and are strongly paramagnetic. Oxygen supports combustion, combines with most elements, and is a component of hundreds of thousands of organic compounds. Ozone (O3), a highly active compound with a name derived from the Greek word for 'I smell', is formed by the action of an electrical discharge or ultraviolet light on oxygen.