Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Solid oxygen forms at normal atmospheric pressure at a temperature below 54.36 K (−218.79 °C, −361.82 °F). Solid oxygen O 2 , like liquid oxygen , is a clear substance with a light sky-blue color caused by absorption in the red part of the visible light spectrum.
Perhaps red for oxygen is inspired by the fact that oxygen is normally required for combustion or that the oxygen-bearing chemical in blood, hemoglobin, is bright red, and the blue for nitrogen by the fact that nitrogen is the main component of Earth's atmosphere, which appears to human eyes as being colored sky blue. [6] [better source needed]
Liquid oxygen has a clear cyan color and is strongly paramagnetic: it can be suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet. [2] Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 kg/L (1.141 g/ml), slightly denser than liquid water, and is cryogenic with a freezing point of 54.36 K (−218.79 °C; −361.82 °F) and a boiling point of 90.19 K (−182.96 °C; −297.33 °F) at 1 bar (14.5 psi).
Oxygen condenses at 90.20 K (−182.95 °C, −297.31 °F) and freezes at 54.36 K (−218.79 °C, −361.82 °F). [52] Both liquid and solid O 2 are clear substances with a light sky-blue color caused by absorption in the red (in contrast with the blue color of the sky, which is due to Rayleigh scattering of blue light).
Most humans can function at rest with an oxygen level of 15% at one atmosphere pressure; [1] a fuel such as methane is combustable down to 12% oxygen in nitrogen. A small room of 10 meter 3 has 2.08 meter 3 (2080 liters) or 2.99 kg of oxygen which would occupy 2.62 liters if it was liquid.
A large fraction of the chemical elements that occur naturally on the Earth's surface are essential to the structure and metabolism of living things. Four of these elements (hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen) are essential to every living thing and collectively make up 99% of the mass of protoplasm. [1]
In blood, the heme group of hemoglobin binds oxygen when it is present, changing hemoglobin's color from bluish red to bright red. [7] [8] Vertebrate animals use hemoglobin in their blood to transport oxygen from their lungs to their tissues, but other animals use hemocyanin (molluscs and some arthropods) or hemerythrin (spiders and lobsters).
Differences in O 2 solubility and measured concentration (AOU) typically occur when biological activity, ocean circulation, or ocean mixing act to change the ambient concentration of oxygen. [2] For example, primary production liberates oxygen and increases its concentration, while respiration consumes it and decreases its concentration.