100 Amazing Facts About Oxygen

Facts About Oxygen: Oxygen is one of the common gases in air. It is the most abundant of all elements found in nature. Found in elemental form in air. It is one-fifth of air by volume. Life gas is essential for plant and animal life on earth . It is soluble in water. Aquatic organisms absorb this vital gas. It consists of 65% sand and 89% water.

Interesting Facts About Oxygen

Liquid oxygen is pale blue in colour and magnetic.
The lung consumes about 5% of whole-body oxygen uptake.
Oxygen in gaseous form is colorless, odorless and tasteless.
Oxygen in the human body is present in fats, carbohydrates, and DNA.
Except for helium and neon, oxygen can form compounds with every other element.
Liquid oxygen has a freezing point of -218.79 °C and a boiling point of −182.96 °C.
Oxygen is expected to be in existence on earth for the past 2.3 to 2.4 billion years.
Oxygen supports the burning of other substance however pure oxygen itself does not burn.
Did you know that a human being uses about 550 liters of pure oxygen (19 cubic feet) per day?
A cool fact about oxygen is that oxygen dissolves faster in cool water than it does in warm water.
Oxygen supports combustion and is required for fire, but itself does not burn and is not flammable.
Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has enough oxygen for the living beings to survive.
Oxygen is an element with the chemical symbol O and atomic number 8. Oxygen has 8 electrons and 8 protons.
Oxygen is paramagnetic, which means it is weakly attracted to a magnet but doesn't retain permanent magnetism.

Cool Facts About Oxygen

300 million years ago when oxygen levels were higher, insects grew bigger. Dragonflies were once as big as birds!
The solubility of oxygen, or its ability to dissolve in water, decreases as water temperature and salinity increase.
Oxygen is unreactive with noble gases. Noble gases include Argon, Neon, Helium, Xenon, Krypton, Radon, and Oganesson.
More than 98% of the O2 carried in the blood is bound to Haemoglobin, the rest of it is in dissolved form in the plasma.
When the dissolved oxygen in water is below 3mg/l, the water is called hypoxic. And when it is 0.5 mg/l, it is called anoxic.
The first oxygen on earth is estimated to have been contributed by Cyanobacteria that consume carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.
Oxygen supports combustion. However, it is not truly flammable! It is considered an oxidizer. Bubbles of pure oxygen don't burn.
Under standard conditions, oxygen is a gas at room temperature. It has a melting point of -218.79℃ and boiling point of -182.95℃.
Interestingly, a molecule of oxygen can withstand the pressure which is nineteen million times higher than the atmospheric pressure.
Oxygen is made of three stable isotopes: O-16, O-17, and O-18. O-18 is the most abundant isotope of oxygen, with an occurrence of 99.762%.
Rocks on earth are about 46% oxygen by weight. Oxygen content in the rocks is in the form of silicon dioxide, which is commonly known as sand.

Wierd Facts About Oxygen

Under normal conditions, freshwater contains 6.04 ml of oxygen per liter. Seawater, on the other hand, contains only 4.95 ml of oxygen per liter.
At normal pressure and temperature, oxygen is composed of two oxygen atoms which join to form dioxygen (O2), a colourless, tasteless, odourless gas.
The name oxygen was first used by French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier in 1777 and comes from the Greek word oxygenes which means acid producer.
The green colour of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, is caused by solar wind particles colliding with oxygen atoms in the earth’s atmosphere.
Oxygen dissolves in water. Fresh water contains about 6.04 mL of oxygen per litre, whereas seawater contains approximately 4.95 mL of oxygen per litre.
Oxygen belongs to the Chalcogen family (group 16 of the periodic table). Some other group 16 elements include sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium.
Oxygen is classified as a gas and nonmetal and is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table. It has an atomic weight of 15.999 and a density of 1.429g/L.
Leonardo da Vinci also confirmed the existence of some other constituent in the air when he realized that a fraction of air is consumed in combustion and respiration.
The element derives its name from the Greek “oxy” meaning acid and “genes” meaning forming. The name of the element was given by the French scientist, Antoine Lavoisier.
Oxygen is a highly reactive element. In fact, it is the most non-reactive of the non-metallic elements. Non-metals are located in groups 14, 15 and 16 of the Periodic Table.

Fun Facts About Oxygen Element

Oxygen plays an important role in life on Earth. This role is carried out through the oxygen cycle which is the movement of oxygen between air, living things, and the Earth’s crust.
Oxygen found in the air is produced by photosynthesis - without plants there would be little oxygen in the air. Most oxygen on Earth comes from tiny ocean plants called phytoplankton.
Three atoms of Oxygen combine and make a molecule of Ozone (an allotrope of oxygen). Ozone is helpful in preventing the unwanted rays from the sun from entering the earth’s atmosphere.
Excited oxygen is responsible for the bright red, green, and yellow-green colors of the aurora. It's the molecule of primary importance, as far as generating bright and colorful auroras.
When we breathe, oxygen enters alveoli, in the lungs. From there it is picked up by the red blood cells. The hemoglobin in the red blood cells joins oxygen and carries it around the body.
Liquid and solid oxygen is pale blue. At lower temperatures and higher pressures, oxygen changes its appearance from blue monoclinic crystals to orange, red, black, and even a metallic appearance.
The average human body of 139 lb (63 kg) consumes 250 ml of O2 each minute. The major single-organ oxygen consumers are the liver, brain, and heart (consuming 20.4%, 18.4%, and 11.6%, respectively).
Oxygen is essential to human life and is needed by most lifeforms on Earth to survive. Animals and plants require it for respiration. It is found in the air we breathe and the water we drink (as H2O).
Oxygen gas is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. It's usually purified by fractional distillation of liquefied air, but the element is found in many compounds, such as water, silica, and carbon dioxide.

Bizarre Facts About Oxygen Gas

Photosynthesis (a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy) releases oxygen into the atmosphere while decay and respiration remove oxygen from the atmosphere.
Oxygen was discovered in 1771 by Swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. However, he didn’t publish his results right away until after British chemist Joseph Priestley published his discovery of oxygen in 1774.
Too much oxygen is however bad for us and causes a condition called the bends which is a particular problem for astronauts and scuba divers. This causes tiny bubbles in the blood which can be painful and sometimes deadly.
Did you know that 70% of the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere is produced by marine plants (plants and algae produce oxygen during the day as a by-product of photosynthesis), 28% comes from rainforests and the remaining 2% comes from other sources.
Oxygen is a nonmetal. It has low thermal and electrical conductivity, but high electronegativity and ionization energy. The solid form is brittle rather than malleable or ductile. The atoms readily gain electrons and form covalent chemical bonds.
Oxygen is paramagnetic (according to dictionary.com – a body or substance that, placed in a magnetic field, possesses magnetization in direct proportion to the field strength; a substance in which the magnetic moments of the atoms are not aligned.
Fish are able to extract oxygen from water molecule with the walls of the gills. The water has a higher concentration of oxygen than the gills. When the water is forced over gills, the blood vessels in the gills absorb a lot of oxygen from the water.
Oxygen makes up nearly 21% of the earth’s atmosphere, two-thirds of the mass of the human body, and nearly half of the mass of the earth’s crust. Almost 90% of the Earth’s crust is made up of these five elements: aluminum, silicon, calcium, iron, and oxygen.

Unique Facts About Oxygen for Kids

Oxygen is circulated through nature through a cycle called as “oxygen cycle”. Oxygen is created by a process called photosynthesis and is then used by other aerobic organisms. Carbon dioxide which is released as a by-product of respiration is consumed during photosynthesis.
Oxygen also exists as the allotrope, ozone. Ozone O3 is a different form of oxygen that combines three oxygen atoms together to create trioxygen. Ozone O3 forms the ozone layer in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. It protects the Earth from the sun’s harmful rays by filtering UV light.
Did you know that the fetus does not actually breathe in the womb? The essential oxygen is passed through the umbilical cord to the fetus. The mother actually breathes for the fetus. As long as the umbilical cord remains intact, there should be no risk of drowning in or outside the womb.
Oxygen is a very reactive element that likes to bind with other elements and easily forms compounds such as oxides. However, the only two elements it does not form a compound with are helium and neon. The process of oxygen combining with other atoms to make compounds is called oxidation.
Oxygen was discovered in 1774 by Joseph Priestley in England. However, Carl Wilhelm Scheele (he called it “fire air”) discovered the element two years earlier, but the credit for the discovery of the element is often given to Joseph Priestley (maybe because Wilhelm did not publish his findings prior to Joseph’s).
Oxygen has many practical uses. It is most commonly used in the manufacture of steel. It is also used for smelting metal from ore, to filter water, for making plastic, and creating rocket fuel. Tanks of oxygen are also used to treat those with breathing problems and as life support for astronauts and scuba divers.
Oxygen makes up around 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere. It makes up around 50% of the Earth’s crust, making it the most common element in the Earth. Oxygen is also the third most abundant element in the universe and the most abundant element in the human body, making up 65% of the body’s mass. 1% of the Sun’s mass is oxygen.
Oxygen gas normally is the divalent molecule O2. Ozone, O3, is another form of pure oxygen. Atomic oxygen, which is also called "singlet oxygen" does occur in nature, although the ion readily bonds to other elements. Singlet oxygen may be found in the upper atmosphere. A single atom of oxygen usually has an oxidation number of -2.
Animals and plants require oxygen for respiration. Plant photosynthesis drives the oxygen cycle, maintaining it around 21% in air. While the gas is essential for life, too much of it can be toxic or lethal. Symptoms of oxygen poisoning include vision loss, coughing, muscle twitching, and seizures. At normal pressure, oxygen poisoning occurs when the gas exceeds 50%.
Oxygen was the atomic weight standard for the other elements until 1961 when it was replaced by carbon 12. Oxygen made a good choice for the standard before much was known about isotopes because although there are 3 natural isotopes of oxygen, most of it is oxygen-16. This is why the atomic weight of oxygen (15.9994) is so close to 16. About 99.76% of oxygen is oxygen-16.
Approximately 2/3 of the mass of the human body is oxygen. This makes it the most abundant element, by mass, in the body. Much of that oxygen is part of water, H2O. Although there are more hydrogen atoms in the body than oxygen atoms, they account for significantly less mass. Oxygen is also the most abundant element in the Earth's crust (about 47% by mass) and the third most common element in the Universe. As stars burn hydrogen and helium, oxygen becomes more abundant.

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