Exactly as the title asks.

Pure oxygen is generally represented as O2 yet oxygen is an element of the periodic table. Why is it O2 and not just O?

  • korfuri@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    149
    ·
    1 year ago

    Oxygen is found in 3 forms: nascent (O), molecular (O2, the most common) and ozone (O3). Nascent oxygen, due to its electronic configuration (i.e how many electrons it has and how they’re spread out across its electronic shells) is unstable, and tends to quickly form bonds with another O, forming O2. This is also the case e.g. for hydrogen, which is usually found as H2.

    You can find O in this form in some environments, in the upper atmosphere there is enough UV radiation to break up O2 into O.

      • WhoRoger@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        79
        ·
        1 year ago

        Not just with itself, also with other elements. Say, you won’t find pure iron in the wild either, because normally it reacts with oxygen so well.

        But yea oxygen needs to pair with something because its outer electron shell is incomplete. So pairing with another oxygen atom is likely, but also with whatever else is available - nitrogen, iron, whatever.

        Most elements are found in molecules really, with the exception of noble gasses like Helium. And some are less reactive than others.

    • megasin1@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t know if anyone is interested but there would be more versions too. Solid oxygen (red oxygen) at high pressure used to be thought of as O4, tetraoxygen aka oxozone. But if you look at it with x-ray crystallography it’s O8, octaoxygen. Cool huh

    • WtfEvenIsExistence@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Can you breathe just O by itself without it being in O2 molecule?

      Edit: I did some searching and apparantly you couldn’t breathe just an Oxygen atom by itself, it needs to be an O2. (Correct me if I’m wrong)

      • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        This question doesn’t even make sense. If atomic oxygen somehow magically appeared in your respiratory tract, it would immediately react with itself and probably burn you to death.

        • A_A@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Yes. Nascent oxygen (O) is very reactive, somewhat like peroxide and ozone, so it could be used to burn off organic matter.
          Now, if you don’t want it to react (too fast) with itself and produce molecular oxygen you may dilute it at low concentration into some inert gas (nitrogen or helium for example).
          Taking 2 or 3 breath of this gas mixture once in a while would eventually get @WtfEvenIsExistence1 with Acute inhalation injury

      • 18107@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        I suspect it would rapidly react and give off energy as heat. This would likely be incompatible with life.

        Not an expert.